BKS claimed that Pawar had recently written to all the Chief Ministers, saying that conventional technologies may be inadequate to meet food security challenges, and opportunity should be given to scientific efforts to develop GM crops by allowing field trials.
BKS national secretary Ambubhai Patel said here, "The Agriculture Minister, whose primary duty is to ensure farmers' welfare, is hand-in-glove with multinational biotechnology companies and is trying to push risky GM crops."
Agricultural policy analyst Devinder Sharma said that GM crops were "a false solution". "This myopic approach of promoting technofixes as solutions to complex agricultural issues will only push the farmer to the edge," he said.
He asked as to why Union Government was asking the states to go ahead with the trials, when a committee set up by the Supreme Court had recommended a 10-year moratorium on field trials of Bt food crops.
