Central panel in Vidarbha to study GM after-effects

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture led by its chairman Prof Ram Gopal Yadav is visiting Vidarbha on Friday to understand the impact of the genetically modified (GM) cotton on the peasantry.

While welcoming the visit in an open letter to Yadav, the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), which works closely with farmers in distress, said, “We are sure that the first-hand look will surely help the panel take position on all issues concerning the producers, which, in turn, will aid the Parliament in formulating policies that serve the people’s interests rather than that of a few business houses.”

The letter goes on to charge, “We have witnessed that in all such previous official visits - from the Planning Commission’s fact finding mission in February 2005, the PM Manmohan Singh’s tour in June 2005, to several other high profile official visits, the administrative machinery hijacks the itinerary giving them only an official view of the issue,” and suggests, “We hope you will also visit farmers, farm widows and activists.”

Terming chief minister Prithiviraj Chavan’s announcement of a bailout package of Rs2,000 crore a case of “too little, too late”, Kishore Tiwari who heads VJAS, pointed out, “In 2005-2006, when Bt cotton was grown in only 4 lakh hectares, the government compensated farmers for crop loss to the tune of Rs220 crore. By that standard this is lesser.”

While VJAS has mooted immediate ban on GM crops, the agriculture ministry has officially admitted that dry and arid land cotton farmers who opted for Bt cotton across 40 lakh hectares are likely to lose Rs10,000 crore according to the initial estimate of crop failure by the state government.