BRAI Bill proposes to create a new regulatory body
Even as the area around Parliament was swamped by crowds of Anna Hazare's supporters, demanding a stronger Lokpal Bill on Wednesday, a small group of environmental activists staged their own demonstration against a different bill, the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) Bill, 2011.
Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh was scheduled to introduce the controversial BRAI Bill in the Lok Sabha, but the House did not conduct regular business due to the debate held on Mr. Hazare and the government's response to his agitation. The BRAI Bill proposes to create a new regulatory body which its opponents claim would be a single window clearance system for genetically modified crops.
“The BRAI Bill is a blatant attempt to bulldoze through the public resistance and genuine concerns about genetically modified crops, and to deny state governments their constitutional authority over Agriculture and Health,” according to Kavitha Kuruganti of the Coalition for a GM-Free India.
Environmemtal group Greenpeace said several of its volunteers were arrested by Delhi Police as they were attempting to unfurl a banner just outside Parliament. The banner read: “Don't Corrupt our Food, Stop BRAI Bill”.
Activists say that since the Science and Technology Ministry's Biotechnology Department is mandated to promote the technology, it would be a conflict of interest if it was also responsible for regulating it and ensuring biotech safety. They want the BRAI to be a monitoring body under the Ministry of Health or Environment and Forests.
Keywords: Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill, BRAI Bill, Science and Technology, biotechnology, genetically modified crops
so what do these campaigners want ? Lawlessness in regulating Indian research, development and environment above all the food ? They have gone mad.
This Bill will let the big guns in Multinational teams like the American 'Monsanto' specially which is looking at India for its big emergent market.It has already done damage to many other countries and Europe has said NO to it on many occasions.It is already in India but now it wants to be official and progress on big scale.If it passes more farmers will end up committing suicide when they get sued for inadvertently allowing their seeds to find way in their fields. This is happening in many places. Do check out companies like this for more info.
Encourage everyone to watch the documentary 'Food Inc.' to get a grip on what is the dark truth / reality behind companies that control, command and arm-twist national policies, especially around good / aggriculture / bio-technology. Watch that film to understand, why this bill opens the 'back-door' to pave way for entry of those evil giants into India, and then make sure that the corrupt Indian govt. does everything in their power to ensure that those companies stay, and get to do what they want to, without anybody being able to stop them.
BRAI & FDI in retail bills should be opposed as it will affect our self sustaining nature of local business. Farmers, small businesses fundamentals will be damaged. And then our economy will be affected by western economy.
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