<i>Swadeshi</i> body flags up seed event, minister skips it

SJM is against such conferences as MNC seed cos oppose govt's seed price regulation policy

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Thursday skipped an event organised by the newly formed Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII), a conglomeration of more than 32 multinational and domestic seed companies including Bayer, Dow Agro, Dupont Poineer, Mahyco, Metahelix, Monsanto and Namdhari.

Though official explanation was that the minister had to attend an important meeting in Parliament, but even prior to that, there were murmurs of dissent against his attendance.

The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) in a letter written to Singh a day before had red-flagged the event on the ground that anybody from the government should not attend such