The public hearing in the city on whether Bacilus thuringiensis (Bt) brinjal should be commercialised is just six days away – on January 25 - but going by rumblings in the government corridors, the state may vote against it.
That was the fate of the consultations held by Union Ministry of Environment in Orissa, West Bengal and Gujarat, and the consensus in Karnataka may not be any different.
Karnataka horticulture minister Umesh Katti has reportedly conveyed his preference for traditional varieties brinjal and is against the introduction of Bt brinjal in the state. “I have instructed the officials to encourage and prepare a blueprint to develop our own varieties of brinjal. We have seen the plight of Bt cotton and its consequences. Why introduce Bt brinjal and bear that again?,” he said.
The environment ministry is holding consultations on cultivation of Bt brinjal in seven cities across the country – Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Nagpur.
The public meeting in the city will be held at the Good Shepherd Auditorium next Monday, which will be attended by farmers, NGOs, agricultural experts, scientists, government and the general public. It will be chaired by the union minister of state for environment and forest Jairam Ramesh.
Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, chairman of Biocon Ltd, says, “There should be proper dialogue on Bt Brinjal. There is a lot of false information going around. The technology (for Bt Brinjal) is safe and will spur economic growth.” Bangalore is among the top 10 growers of brinjal in India. According to the government, it has around 15000 hectare of land under brinjal cultivation and produced 352000 metric tonnes of the vegetable in 2008.
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