Criticising GM crops may land you in jail
Imran Khan
ExpressBuzz.com -
26 Feb 2010
In an unprecedented muzzle on the right to freedom of speech
of the citizen, Chapter 13 section 63 of the draft bill says, “Whoever, without
any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the
organisms and products…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that shall
not be less than six months but which may extend to one year and with fine
which may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.”
The BRAI Bill drafted by the department of bio-technology under the Ministry of
Science and Technology comes on the heels of a moratorium on Bt Brinjal announced by the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
“What they are doing is much worse than what Hitler or
Mussolini did. Through this bill, they want to take absolute authority. They
are behaving like a vendor instead of a regulator,” Pushpa
M Bhargava, a member of the Supreme Court appointed
Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) said.
There are also other provisions in this bill which are
disconcerting.
Article 27 (1) of the bill seeks to keep the information
related to the research, approval and science of the GM Products out of the
purview of the Right to Information ( RTI) Act.
In other words, farmers, NGO’s and
Environmental groups that have been on the forefront of the campaign against BT
Brinjal and other genetically modified crops, can
longer obtain information about it.
Not only that, the three member experts of the Department of
Biotechnology will override any existing legislation about GM technology in the
states.
The draft bill also states that the BRAI will set up its own
appellate tribunal which will have the jurisdiction to hear arguments on the
issues concerning biotechnology. In case of any disputes, petitioners can only
approach the Supreme Court of India.
“The BRAI bill is more draconian than what the nation faced
during the Emergency ‘’ says Devinder Sharma, writer
and Food Policy Analyst. “If the Bill was already in force, I would have been
in jail.
Jairam Ramesh
too would have been in jail for challenging the health and environmental claims
of the company developing Bt Brinjal,” he said. The
bill demonstrates the extraordinary hold the multinational companies have over
the UPA government, he added. Kavitha Kurugunti of Kheti Virasat Mission said that this bill is just a way to
silence the voices who are opposed to GM technology.
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