With the world all set to observe October 16, 2013,
as World Food Day, Karnataka has joined the Global March Against
Monsanto and for food safety and seed sovereignty.
In this regard, farmers, consumers, scientists, students, activists and others have vociferously pointed out the rejection of genetically-modified (GM) crops and the corporatisation of food systems.
Inaugurating the public action against Monsanto, veteran freedom fighter H.S Doraiswamy exhorted the gathering to continue this struggle for keeping our food and farming systems free from the clutches of multinational corporations like Monsanto.
“It is alarming that governments are getting into partnerships with this corporation and jeopardising seed sovereignty of Indian farmers. We are here to show corporations like Monsanto that we will not tolerate any jeopardising of our farming, food and environment,” said P Srinivas, co-convenor, GM Free Karnataka Coalition.
Meanwhile, on October 11, 2013, the Karnataka High Court had dismissed petitions that challenged criminal prosecution of top officials of Monsanto/Mahyco and University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, who have been accused of biopiracy in promotion of Bt Brinjal, India's first food GMO.
Speaking on the occasion, Leo Saldanha of Environment Support Group (ESG), which first exposed the issue said that Monsanto worked to take away control over seeds from local farming communities as an integral part of their business model. “Now they have been caught red-handed illegally appropriating Brinjal varieties endemic to India and which constitute our biodiversity heritage.”
“We will continue to closely monitor efforts of national and state biopiracy regulatory agencies to ensure the criminal proceedings against the corporation and collaborating institutions reaches its logical end and serves as an example against similar biopirates for all time to come,” he added.
He demanded the state government to immediately conduct an investigation into the failure of Bt cotton in the state and blacklist companies like Monsanto, which had pushed the poor farmer in Karnataka to severe distress.
“On the one hand, scientific evidence on adverse impact of GM crops on human health, environment and farm livelihoods is increasing, on the other hand, the Central government is pushing for GM crops into our farms and plates. The latest in these efforts is the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, which proposes to create a single-window clearance system designed for easy approval of GM crops. This is nothing but a Monsanto Protection and Promotion Law,” said Neha Saigal, sustainable agriculture campaigner, Greenpeace India.
Addressing the gathering Kavitha Kuruganti, national convenor, Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), called the attention of the national and state government to the fact that this World Food Day has a theme of 'Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition.'
“It is high time that we steer away from an agriculture paradigm promoted by multinational corporations like Monsanto which fills our farms and food with toxic chemicals and risky GM crops for the profit of these companies into an ecological farming paradigm which has a triple bottomline of social, ecological and economic sustainability,” she added.
In this regard, farmers, consumers, scientists, students, activists and others have vociferously pointed out the rejection of genetically-modified (GM) crops and the corporatisation of food systems.
Inaugurating the public action against Monsanto, veteran freedom fighter H.S Doraiswamy exhorted the gathering to continue this struggle for keeping our food and farming systems free from the clutches of multinational corporations like Monsanto.
“It is alarming that governments are getting into partnerships with this corporation and jeopardising seed sovereignty of Indian farmers. We are here to show corporations like Monsanto that we will not tolerate any jeopardising of our farming, food and environment,” said P Srinivas, co-convenor, GM Free Karnataka Coalition.
Meanwhile, on October 11, 2013, the Karnataka High Court had dismissed petitions that challenged criminal prosecution of top officials of Monsanto/Mahyco and University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, who have been accused of biopiracy in promotion of Bt Brinjal, India's first food GMO.
Speaking on the occasion, Leo Saldanha of Environment Support Group (ESG), which first exposed the issue said that Monsanto worked to take away control over seeds from local farming communities as an integral part of their business model. “Now they have been caught red-handed illegally appropriating Brinjal varieties endemic to India and which constitute our biodiversity heritage.”
“We will continue to closely monitor efforts of national and state biopiracy regulatory agencies to ensure the criminal proceedings against the corporation and collaborating institutions reaches its logical end and serves as an example against similar biopirates for all time to come,” he added.
He demanded the state government to immediately conduct an investigation into the failure of Bt cotton in the state and blacklist companies like Monsanto, which had pushed the poor farmer in Karnataka to severe distress.
“On the one hand, scientific evidence on adverse impact of GM crops on human health, environment and farm livelihoods is increasing, on the other hand, the Central government is pushing for GM crops into our farms and plates. The latest in these efforts is the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, which proposes to create a single-window clearance system designed for easy approval of GM crops. This is nothing but a Monsanto Protection and Promotion Law,” said Neha Saigal, sustainable agriculture campaigner, Greenpeace India.
Addressing the gathering Kavitha Kuruganti, national convenor, Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), called the attention of the national and state government to the fact that this World Food Day has a theme of 'Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition.'
“It is high time that we steer away from an agriculture paradigm promoted by multinational corporations like Monsanto which fills our farms and food with toxic chemicals and risky GM crops for the profit of these companies into an ecological farming paradigm which has a triple bottomline of social, ecological and economic sustainability,” she added.
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