After Bt cotton, it's GM mustard
The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee has deferred granting commercial approval to a genetically-modified mustard. But are these just delaying tactics? Could we soon see the release of the first genetically-engineered food crop in India?
Friends of Melghat
An estimated 5,000 tribal children died of malnutrition in Melghat, Maharashtra, between 1992-97. Since 1997, a group of volunteers has been working with the Korkus in this remote forest region, helping educate them about nutrition, sanitation and preventive health care
Living through the great drought
Yana Bey travels through the poverty-stricken Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput region of Orissa, meeting villagers with long memories of hard times and starvation
World Food Summit 2002: The hungry will have to wait
The various heads of state, at the recently-concluded World Food Summit 2002 in Rome, spoke eloquently about the scandalous "scourge" of prevailing hunger. Yet they provided only a diet of words to the millions of hungry and malnourished around the world
Western cow vs Southern farmer: The absurdity of inequality
Around 1.5 billion marginal farmers in the developing world live in virtual penury. Simultaneously, 1.5 billion cattle in the industrialised world are reared in luxury, with a cow in the developed world receiving subsidies that amount to almost twice the annual income of an average Third World farmer
A biological apocalypse averted
Although supporters of genetically engineered products often claim that rigorous tests have proven the safety of GE products, their opponents argue that the field tests do not provide a track record of safety, but a case of 'don't look, don't find'. And when scientists actually look, what they see can be terrifying
Bt cotton: Stepping into a booby trap
Opinions are divided about the wisdom of the Indian government's decision to burn the genetically modified cotton crop on 10,000 acres of farmland in Gujarat. In this article, the author points out why Bt cotton is a biological trap.