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NOBEL LAUREATES BAT FOR ALLOWING GM TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA
At the Nobel Dialogue during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar, Nobel laureates defended the Genetically Modified( GM) Food technology to provide food security on planet earth. One of the laureates, Richard Roberts( 1993 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine), lauded the fact that PM Narendra Modi is pro-GM who recognizes the possibilities of GM crops.
The subject of discussion during the second session of the dialogue was“ Local Research, Global Impact— Addressing Global Challenges”. And it mainly remained centred around research to deal with challenges like communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases and food security.
Apart from Roberts, three other Nobel laureates who participated in the discussion included Harold Varmus( 1989 Nobel for physiology or medicine), Randy Schekman( 2013 Nobel in physiology or medicine) and Indiaborn Venkatraman Ramakrishnan( 2009 Nobel in chemistry).
Discussing the issue of food security, Roberts strongly defended GM food technology and came down heavily on NGOs like Greenpeace for spreading“ misinformation” among public against it for“ monetary gains”.“ I am one of those who believe that if you are hungry, food is more important than medicine. There are 1,800 million people in this world who go to bed hungry every night which in my view is unacceptable,” Roberts said.
“ GM food have immense possibilities, but unfortunately what has happened is that there has been a tremendous amount of misinformation to public, thanks to anti-GM movement by NGOs like Greenpeace. They have persuaded that GM techniques are dangerous … Currently, there is tremendous work in the area that there is absolutely no reason( to believe) why the so-called GMOs( gene modified organisms) are more dangerous than traditionally grown plant,” Roberts added.
INDIA & ISRAEL TO STRENGTHEN BILATERAL RELATIONS IN AGRICULTURE
Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Mr Radha Mohan Singh today met Israeli delegation led by the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister of Israel, Mr Uri Ariel to discuss issues relating to bilateral cooperation in agriculture between India and Israel. Both sides expressed satisfaction over the progress made in cooperation in the agriculture and allied sectors
between the two countries.
Both sides expressed their commitment to further strengthen bilateral relations in the field of Agriculture which is manifested by the fact that the third phase of Action Plan for 2015-18 in the field of Horticulture has recently been finalized by the two countries. Under this program, as many as 27 Centres of Excellence( CoEs) in the cultivation of various fruits and vegetables, in 21 states, are being set up, out of which 15 CoEs are complete.
Further, both sides expressed the hope that while continuing the two countries could embark upon newer areas of cooperation at the Government to Government and Business to Business levels between the two countries so as to further enhance the relationship.
IIL FOUNDATION SIGNS MOU WITH ICAR-IARI TO IMPART END TO END TRAINING TO FARMERS
Leading agrochemical company Insecticides( India) Limited has signed an MOU through IIL Foundation with ICAR- IARI( the Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi), the government’ s apex agriculture research body, to train farmers and inculcate the best farming practices among the farming community.
Under this initiative, few village clusters will be selected, and selected farmers from them will be given complete training from
48 BioVoiceNews | February 2017