The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Meet on biotech rescheduled

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Friday, Jun 13, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Meet on biotech rescheduled

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The regional consultative meeting on the proposed National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA), which was to be held on Wednesday, has been rescheduled following “inadequate representation” from the farming community and the State Government.

The meeting was organised to gather information, suggestions and opinions from various stakeholders as a precursor for the proposed NBRA. But some non-governmental organisations objected to holding the meeting without giving adequate publicity and not involving the government and members from the farming community. The meeting will now be held at a later date, according to the co-ordinator of the meeting S.R. Rao.

Representatives of the NGOs, namely Leo F. Saldanha of the Environment Support Group and Vivek Cariappa President of Organic Farmers Association, Heggadadevana Kote, appealed to the organisers not to record the meeting as an official event. They said there was no representation from the Government of Karnataka, leaders and members of the farming community and it was not fair to hold a consultative meeting in their absence without recording their suggestions and opinions.

When the organisers stood their ground saying that the meeting would go on as scheduled, the NGO representatives insisted that an important proposal such as formation of NBRA should be more “inclusive” and alleged that the organisers had involved only academia and multinational companies and corporate entities.

For sometime, there were uproarious scenes in the meeting. When the meeting finally gathered some composure, Mr. Rao announced that the meeting would go on but it will not be “official” and hence there will not be any official minutes of the meeting.

Speaking to the presspersons later, Mr. Rao said that he had spoken to Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, M.K. Bhan and had instructions from him to call another “official Regional Consultative Meeting” involving government officials, farmers’ bodies and other stakeholders. He said the details of the meeting would be worked out in the next three days.

Mr. Cariappa told presspersons that a country should be able to preserve its native knowledge base in agriculture and protect the seed diversity.

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