REAPING PROFITS: Use of Bt seeds will raise cotton production

With the Union Environment Ministry’s Genetic Engineering Approval Committee clearing Bt Cotton, the era of genetically modified seeds has begun for the Indian farmer. The Government will, however, closely monitor the production, distribution and sale of Bt Cotton to assess its effect on the environment. The farmers are ecstatic as they foresee a 20-30 per cent increase in production. “Bt Cotton is resistant to the bollworm. This will help a cotton farmer save about Rs 6,000 per hectare,” says Sharad Joshi, farmer leader and former chairman of the Union government’s task force on agriculture. Annual production is expected to rise from the current year’s estimated 155 lakh bales to 200 lakh bales.
Now that Bt Cotton has been approved, more transgenic seeds might come in. “India’s dithering on this issue was deterring investors,” says Sandhya Tiwari, deputy director, biotech and pharma, cii. The Government is looking at soyabean, mustard and corn as potential gm crops. Negotiations are on to consider rice too. Says Partha Dasgupta of Syngenta Seeds: “Genetic modification has answers to the several diseases that plague rice in India.”

Amid the jubilation, there still exist doubts about possible damage to human health and the environment. “We consume cottonseed oil while oilseed cakes are used as cattle feed,” says Afsar Jafri, coordinator, Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology. “The consequences are as yet unknown.”

—Prerna Singh Bindra

Surama Padhi, chief of the BJP’s women’s wing, is in trouble. The meteoric rise of this shy Oriya housewife had been a cause for envy in the party. Until some skeletons came tumbling out. Dusty police records that surfaced recently show the in-laws of Padhi’s brother had filed a case against her and her brother years ago, alleging dowry harassment. The bjp that had mulled giving her a Rajya Sabha seat stopped in its tracks. But the lady is still queening over the women’s wing.

—Ruben Banerjee

BEVERAGE BILL
Tea Totaller

It appears that tea and coffee flow like water in the durbar of the “raja” of Bihar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, and his wife, Chief Minister Rabri Devi. A recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General reveals that the amount spent by the chief minister on beverages between 1994 and 2000 was Rs 30 lakh. At Rs 5 lakh a year it is a hundred times higher than the state’s per capita income of Rs 4,500.

What the report does not mention is that at his prime (before a series of scandals sobered him), Laloo organised “cultural” shows—performances by male dancers and Chaita songs—almost every night at his residence. Legislators, ministers, lackeys and claptrap boys were the audience. So the state secretariat canteen was ordered to set up a counter at Laloo’s home.

Actually, the taste for tea also seems to run in the Government. Several departments have beverage bills running into a couple of lakhs of rupees. Laloo’s Bihar is literally guzzling money.

—Farzand Ahmed

Target Taj

MONUMENTAL HAZARD:The Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is on the hit list of terrorists. Its security is currently in the hands of the Uttar Pradesh Government and its upkeep with the Archaeological Survey of India. But in view of renewed threats of attack on the monument—like the Lashkar-e-Toiba’s e-mail message to former chief minister Rajnath Singh threatening to blow up the Taj—the state Government is considering handing over security to the Central Industrial Security Force.

“We beef up security to almost double the normal when such information is received,” says Agra dig Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar, who declined to give details of the threat. More than 200 well-armed policemen, he says, guard the Taj round the clock. Bomb disposal squads and bunkers have come up near the Taj. The symbol of love is a veritable war zone.