{"id":306238,"date":"2024-08-02T19:02:36","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T13:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=306238"},"modified":"2024-08-02T19:02:36","modified_gmt":"2024-08-02T13:32:36","slug":"the-ongoing-debate-on-genetically-modified-crops-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/the-ongoing-debate-on-genetically-modified-crops-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ongoing Debate on Genetically Modified Crops in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/strong>– This post on The Ongoing Debate on Genetically Modified Crops in India<\/strong> has been created based on the article \u201cContested harvest<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d<\/strong> on 2 August 2024.<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus<\/strong>–GS Paper-2<\/strong>– Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation.<\/p>\n

Context- <\/strong>Recently, a two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India gave a split verdict on whether to permit genetically modified mustard, DMH-11, for use in farms. DMH-11, developed at Delhi University’s biotechnology department with public funding, features genes that make it appealing for creating new hybrid varieties.<\/p>\n

Currently, only GM cotton is allowed in India. Although GM seeds have been developed for crops like rice, wheat, tomato, brinjal, and mustard, none of these have been approved for use.<\/p>\n

What are the Key points about DMH-11?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Approval Process<\/strong>– To be approved in India, crops must be tested over three seasons in various climates and show consistent improvement over current varieties.<\/p>\n

2) Trial Results-<\/strong> Trials by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research over three years showed that DMH-11 met these criteria.<\/p>\n

3) GEAC Approval-<\/strong> Based on these results, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) approved DMH-11 in October 2022, subject to certain tests.<\/p>\n

A detailed article on GM Crops in India: Issues and challenges<\/strong> can be read here.<\/a><\/p>\n

What are the issues with DMH-11?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

1) Environmental Concerns-<\/strong> Environmentalists argue that DMH-11 is ‘herbicide tolerant,’ which would require farmers to use certain pesticides. This may harm the environment.<\/p>\n

2) Transparency Issues-<\/strong> The developers did not clearly disclose that the crop is herbicide-tolerant.<\/p>\n

3) Legal Challenges- <\/strong>The Supreme Court\u2019s split verdict highlights the complexity of the issue, so the case will be reviewed by a larger Bench led by the Chief Justice of India.<\/p>\n

A) Justice Nagarathna’s View-<\/strong> She believed the GEAC ignored the ‘precautionary principle,’ which requires careful consideration of new technologies before approval.<\/p>\n

B) Justice Karol’s View-<\/strong> He was satisfied with how the approval process was handled.<\/p>\n

Way ahead<\/strong>-The Court ordered the Centre to develop a comprehensive policy on GM crops. Further, the Court and government should keep in mind that striving for improvement should not be hindered by the pursuit of perfection.<\/p>\n

Question for practice<\/strong><\/p>\n

What are the main features or highlights of DMH-11? What challenges are associated with DMH-11?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source– This post on The Ongoing Debate on Genetically Modified Crops in India has been created based on the article \u201cContested harvest\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 2 August 2024. UPSC Syllabus–GS Paper-2– Government Policies and Interventions for Development in various sectors and Issues arising out of their Design and Implementation. Context- Recently, a two-judge… Continue reading The Ongoing Debate on Genetically Modified Crops in India<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230],"tags":[300,212,10498],"class_list":["post-306238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","tag-governance","tag-gs-paper-2","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}