ICAR rejects ‘motivated, baseless’ charges over genome-edited rice

THE Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has dismissed allegations made by independent researchers that scientific evidence contradicts ICAR’s assertions about a major increase in rice production following the introduction of two gene-edited rice varieties earlier this year.

- JITENDRA CHOUBEY @New Delhi

Researchers under the banner of the Coalition for a GM-Free India had alleged that ICAR and the Ministry of Agriculture were misled into making exaggerated claims about the success of genome-edited rice.