Apropos the editorial "Against science" (August 1), the government's decision to put on hold the field trials of genetically modified (GM) crops is not forward-looking. For India's transition to rapid growth, significant and quick improvement in the performance of agriculture is absolutely necessary. Given the number of constraints, agricultural production cannot be increased significantly without improving productivity. The looming threat of climate change impacting temperature and water availability requires agricultural research to develop a new and high-yielding variety of crops.
The government's stance on this issue is based on unsubstantiated reasons. It would have been more pragmatic to subject these controlled field trial outcomes to strict objective and independent scientific scrutiny to assess its benefits.
Biplab Chakraborty Kolkata
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