I'll have the final word on Bt Brinjal: Jairam Ramesh

Minister set to announce decision on February 10.

Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, today said that his decision on commercialisation of Bt brinjal would be final and ruled out the possibility of forming another committee or debating in Parliament the recommendation of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC).

“GEAC, a statutory authority set up under the Environment Protection Act of 1986, recommended commercialisation of Bt brinjal in October 2009. The file has come to me and I am the minister concerned. I have to take a decision and I will announce my decision on February 10,” Ramesh told reporters on the sidelines of the final national consultation on Bt brinjal here today.

“I can’t ignore public opinion and science. Although much of the public opinion is match-fixing, I am not a fool. I know all the games that people play. This is not an easy decision. It will set precedence for future decisions and I will take a fair decision,” he said. “I have to not only look at the interests of producers but also look at the interests of consumers. It has to be a balanced decision.”

However, he said his decision was not final and binding. Anyone could go to any court at any point of time against my decision, he said. “I have to balance the interests of science and society and food security considerations. This will be the first Bt vegetable to be introduced anywhere in the world. So, we have to take all factors into consideration,” he added.

According to the minister, nine state governments — West Bengal, Orissa, Kerala, Karnataka, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — are against the introduction of Bt brinjal and have written to the environment ministry. “Nearly 60 per cent of the brinjal grown in the country comes from West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar. They all have opposed it and I have got their response,” he said.

Earlier in the day, chaos, anger, repartees and some scientific reasoning marked the seventh public hearing on Bt brinjal here, with Ramesh facing attacks from opponents of the crop variety, prompting him to hit back.

The debate, which lasted more than three hours, saw the minister lose his cool when he was accused by one of the participants of being an “agent” of biotech firm Monsanto. “I am not a Monsanto agent... You need help,” he snapped.

To an allegation that he was in the loop of the pro-GM lobby and a gazette notification proved it, he yelled, “I will not tolerate wild allegations”. He made frantic calls to his department to have some clarity on the notification.

Dismissing as far-fetched the conspiracy angle of his involvement, he said the gazette only stated that the listed commodities could be exported without the permission of national bio-diversity authorities and was in no way connected to GM crops.

However, he said he would look into the notification and would withdraw it if it was in any way found to be connected to genetically-modified crops.

He said “false rumours” were being spread and the actual issue was being hijacked by throwing in “conspiracy angles”.

“I want scientific contributions, not political contributions,” he admonished a member trying to make a point.

The surroundings of Jnanajyoti Auditorium at Central College, where the consultation was held, witnessed noisy scenes as farmers and college students came out in large numbers raising slogans against Bt brinjal.

Farmers from Magadi, Ramanagar, Nanjangud, Gundlupet, Kottur, Gulbarga, Erode in Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala carried out a protest march.

Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Jnanapeeth awardee UR Ananthamurthy, Kannada film maker Nagatihalli Chandrashekar and farmer leader K S Puttannaiah participated in the hearing.

“The land belongs to farmers. We are living in a democratic society and we should be allowed to decide what we want to grow,” said Sunanda Jayaram, a farmer from Maddur. Another farmer from Mandya said, “I have been farming for the last 40 years. The introduction of Bt brinjal will lead to disappearance of hundreds of varieties of traditional brinjal as farmers will have to depend on seed companies for their requirements every year.”

“We don’t want Bt...We want to retain the legacy of our forefathers who left us behind hundreds of varieties of brinjal,” said another farmer.