Bangalore: Chaos, anger, repartees and some
scientific reasoning marked the seventh public hearing on Bt
Brinjal on Saturday with Union Environment Minister Jairam
Ramesh facing attacks from groups supporting and opposing the
crop variety, prompting him to hit back at them.
The minister, at the receiving end with NGOS, farmers,
doctors and scientists making out a case for and against
commercialisation of Bt Brinjal, countered some detractors,
shouting "I will not listen to you".
The three-and-half-hour debate 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", a livid Ramesh snapped. "You
need help", he said apparently indicating that the participant
was mentally unsound.
As the debate saw decibel levels rise, the Minister
tried to use his authority to bring in some discipline and
some time turned to humour to calm down an agitated voice.
"This is not the Parliament", he told a participant who tried to
yell to be heard above the din and spoke out of turn.
"They must stop telecasting parliamentary proceedings...
This is highly infectious," Ramesh said even as the
participants yelled to have their voices heard.
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". An angry Ramesh made frantic
calls to his department to have some clarity on the
notification.
Dismissing as far-fetched the conspiracy angle of his
involvement, Ramesh said the gazette only stated that the
listed commodities could be exported without permission from
the 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.
Despite being booed as being "Hitler-like" when he
refused to hear some of the points, he said he had been
"patient" and had been "fair and democratic" while eliciting
opinions.
When a scientist stated that when farmers had accepted
mobile and other technology why were they refusing to accept
BT Brinjal, he told him: "I am sorry a scientist has spoken
so. I apologise to all of you. Science should not teach you
arrogance. I am trying to find a middle path between
anti-democratic nature of NGOs and arrogance of scientist," he
said amid applause.
The debate also took a linguistic turn when a group
objected to a scientist airing his views in English and not
Tamil, raising a counter-protest from Kannadigas.
Former Prime Minister Deve Gowda, who was also present at
the meeting, praised Ramesh for holding the public
consultation and raised doubts over safety of GM crops and
whom it would benefit.
While some farmers during the debate argued that
introduction of BT brinjal would impact lifespan and would
result in multinationals monopolising the scenario, others
said it would help in doubling yield and economic gains.
Some of the scientists questioned the long term
implication and expressed fears of contamination through cross
pollination; others clearly questioned why India was being
used for experimentation.
Ramesh, who had earlier said that a decision on
introduction of BT brinjal would be taken by February 10, said
it would attempt to balance science and community. "I cannot
ignore public opinion. I have to walk a line between science
and society."
Asserting that there was no pressure on him, he said the
decision would be fair one. "It might make 50 per cent happy,
50 per cent unhappy. It is not going to be an easy decision to
take. It will set the pattern for future decisions for food
crops, so I have to be careful."
He said he had received letters from the chief ministers
of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala,
Madhya Pradesh opposing Bt Brinjal. The Tamil Nadu chief
secretary had orally communicated similar view, he said,
adding that he is was yet to hear from Maharashtra, Punjab and
Gujarat.
Ramesh said he so far had seven consultations with 8,000
people, received letters and written to various scientists,
governments, farmers, NGOs and other organisations.
PTI
