Opposed to BRAI or GM ?

The Hindu recently quoted Arvind Kejriwal of the new Aam Aadmi Party, during the launch of an anti-BRAI and anti-GM campaign at Jantar Mantar as saying that:

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal said his party was opposed to genetically modified crops and his colleague Prashant Bhushan had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court against it. “The Aam aadmi is unaware of GM crops and the BRAI. He/she does not understand it. If they did, then this demonstration site [at Jantar Mantar] would have been milling with people as it concerns their health and safety. Regulation spells corruption and our party is striving to change the political system that breeds corruption.”

However, on contacting AAP by email, they told us:

I am not sure what was quoted at Hindu (Newspaper) - but what I can say at this moment, is that,we have formed many committees on all issues related to policy matters. We are waiting for their recommendations, once we have those, we will place those on public domain & will seek people's verdicts/comments/suggestions/feedback on those. Then we will talk about policy matters. 

 Meanwhile, most recently it looks like India may impose a moratorium on open field trials of Bt crops until 'adequate regulatory mechanisms and  safety standards are put in place'. However, the article does not say if TEC's (Technical Expert Committee) interim report extends this to all GM field trials.

However, this is limited to crops, and there is no moratorium on manufacture of drugs. Meanwhile, it seems public opposition to the BRAI bill is growing, lead by organisations like Greenpeace.

In coming posts, we will be looking at the Bill, and how it compares to regulation in other countries.

Indian Railways Launches Bio-toilet Scheme; Claim Bacteria Will Solve Sanitation Problem

In the past year, several newspapers[1][2][3][4] have been reporting on the 'Bio-toilet initiative' of the Indian Railways, developed with DRDO (Defense Research and Development Organisation), touting it as a solution to India's sanitation problem. The Indian Railways have shown extreme interest in this project since toilets in Indian trains are open to tracks - which means dirty and corroded tracks. The new bio-toilets are supposed to be using bacteria to clean the toilets - exactly how - is turning out to be mystery.

Scientists from IIT-Kanpur have already rubbished claims about the toilets as extreme - TOI quotes Professor Tare of IITK as saying:

Tare said the whole project was based on misinformation. "With every flush untreated waste is expelled through different levels and finally on the tracks" 

While dubious claims by government organisations are not new - this one is worrying. The Rural Development Ministry has started acquiring these toilets for use in rural areas, and while TOI did quote professor Tare as saying this might be usable for homes - one might still be skeptical of all these plans. Specially since there is so much investment. The Hindu has said [5] that the Ministry of Rural Development plans to invest 400 cr. in the project - this is apart from the hundreds of crores the railways might already end up spending on this.

And even though this is not related to genetic engineering - maintaining an interest in this is of vital importance - specially since everything 'bio' in India is likely to get tagged together - Biotechnology, Biology, GM - everything sadly means the same. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out - if this really is a successful project, or another scam in the making.