Rally/Protest Meet at Bhubaneswar
DT: 17.03.09
Protest against impending regularization of Bt Cotton and move to conduct field trials of Bt Brinjal in Orissa.
Bhubaneswar: Enraged over blatant government apathy at the plight of cotton farmers who have suffered heavy losses after being goaded into illegal cultivation of Bt Cotton the United Coalition Against Genetic Engineering (UNCAGE), Orissa launched a massive rally in Bhubaneswar today. They protested the manner in which an inept government machinery sat in the sidelines and watched as seed multinationals openly sold illegal Bt Cotton seeds to the farmers in the State. A huge number of participants from all walks of society including 200 farmers from different parts of Orissa also protested against the decision to conduct field trials of Bt Brinjal, a genetically modified food crop, in Orissa.
Dressed for the occasion, wearing hats, badges and garlanding themselves with brinjal necklaces, the farmers held up placards accusing the government of being a party to the foreign led forces that are set to disrupt the already dismal agriculture scenario of Orissa. More than 14 organisations and individual members who participated in the rally wanted the State Government to break its silence on the illegal cultivation of Bt Cotton and the clandestine move to introduce the controversial food crop Bt Brinjal.
The farmers narrated how they had been promised a yield of 8 to 9, even 10 quintals of cotton per acre while purchasing the Bt Cotton seeds; they had actually reaped only 2 to 3.5 quintals of substandard cotton. While they were told that this variety would not attract pests, they reported heavy pest attacks. The bolls of cotton were very small, they said. The expenses they had to incur on fertiliser too were more. Though the entire activity has been termed illegal, they said it was the agriculture officials who had asked them to take up the crop. These officials were again visiting them and asking them to try out novel pest control methods with Bt Cotton. The disgruntled farmers said they had become guinea pigs in an irresponsible and highly dangerous government sponsored experiment.
The Bt Cotton also caused allergies and there have been instances of animals falling sick and dying from being grazed on Bt Cotton fields. However the farmers and veterinary doctors’ pleas to the effect were being ignored and the cattle deaths were being attributed to other causes, they claimed.
When asked whether the lack of yield was a universal phenomenon, the farmers replied that those of them who had grown other non Bt varieties had reaped a good crop. They said there was no doubt in their mind that the Bt seeds were the culprit. When asked if they would grow Bt Cotton again in their fields they replied that the Bt Cotton craze had gone but they were confused by the directives given by the agriculture department officials. Some of them narrated how the fertility of their fields had been affected by growing Bt Cotton.
UNCAGE members campaigning against Bt Cotton informed that the seed dealers were once again poised to sell Bt Cotton seeds. This time around the seed packets sent to them were cleverly marked as samples and branded not for sale. Senior scientists and agriculture department officials are camping in seed shops and instructing the farmers how to increase yields from Bt Cotton, they alleged. They wondered how this could happen without the sanction of the higher officials.
All steps were being taken to regularize the illegal Bt Cotton cultivation, they alleged. Field trials of Bt Cotton conducted by the OUAT at Bhawanipatna had concentrated only on the yield factor and disregarded bio safety studies, they informed. The increased incidence of pests and the emergence of new pests, that both affected the plant as well as the bolls, were being ignored, they said. “How can the scientists say that Bt Cotton is safe if no bio safety tests have been conducted?” they wanted to know. The activists claimed that many scientists of the state too were not happy in the manner Bt Cotton was being pushed into the State. There are also efforts to introduce herbicide resistant Bt Cotton into the State, they alleged.
UNCAGE members said that the State was leading innocent farmers into a deadly trap with its eyes open. Farmers suicides over failed cotton crops had already begun, they said. They wondered how the disastrous experience of other states with Bt Cotton was being ignored while trying to regularize the illegal cultivation of Bt Cotton in Orissa. Has a conscious decision been taken to sacrifice the farmers at the altar of the greed of multinationals, they wanted to know.
The members also wanted the government to break its studied silence over Bt Brinjal, brinjal being a very important food of the Oriyas. They referred to the visits to the State by reputed scientists and authors, namely Dr Michael Hansen and Jeffrey Smith, who had met government officials and scientists and warned them over the various documented dangers of genetically modified food and crops.
It was time the government machinery woke up and stood by the farmers, opined many as the proposed National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) would soon take away the powers of the State over agriculture. This was an attempt to push in genetically modified food crops through a single window without any hindrance or opposition from any quarters. Not only the farmers but the consumers too would then suffer from the irreversible hazards of GM foods and crops. Poisonous viruses and genes from toxic bacteria are being introduced into food and also genes from insects, animals and even humans. Consumers worldwide were protesting such unnatural and dangerous food.
UNCAGE put forth the demands that the Government should encourage and promote local traditional varieties of brinjal. Non Pesticidal methods to control pests and organic inputs as fertilisers have been proven to both increase yield and ensure sustainability and should be adopted in a large scale, they said. The very important issue of banning Bt Cotton, Bt Brinjal and such other genetically modified crops should be included in the election manifesto of all political parties, they demanded. The coalition demanded the unconditional total ban on experimentation with, field trials and cultivation of all varieties of genetically modified food and crops. They demanded strict regulation that such food and crops should not be allowed into the state by any agency and also demanded exemplary punishment to the seed companies whose Bt Cotton seeds had been illegally sold in the State. Illegally releasing GM seeds without any monitoring and control was akin to an act of bioterrorism and must not be condoned, they pointed out. They also demanded full compensation to the farmers for the huge losses they have incurred on account of Bt Cotton.
The coalition composed of members of such organisations as CWS, Vasundhara, Rushikulya Ryot Mahasabha, Paschim Orissa Krushak Sangathan Samambaya Samiti, Orissa Krushak Mahasangha, Chethna Organic Farmers Association, members of farmers wing of the CPI(M), farmers associations of Bargarh and Bolangir, Jana Kalyan Sanstha, Human Rights Law Network, Wildlife Society of Orissa, CARR, UAA, Dulal, CACL, HRE, NAWO, Childright India, Orissa Homeopathic Druggists Association, ayurvedic doctors, PUCL, Batnet, Living Farms, Lohia Academy, Womens Rights Activists, students associations, trade union leaders, and even members of the media.
