GM crops: A path to become slave again

Two weeks before I have read this editorial in the tamil newspaper ‘Dinamani’ which says that (My translation maybe pathetic. Hope I deliver the gist of that. Anybody who knows Tamil please read the editorial and correct me in the places where I have gone wrong. I have translated from 4^th paragraph to 8^th paragraph)),

‘Last week Indian cabinet approved an understanding agreement with America without publicizing it. According to this farmer’s society and safe food agreement, in the enlargement of the farming, privatization is going to be implemented in Indian farming and also US multinationals going to play a part in Indian agriculture.

In America, agriculture is business. But in India it’s a essential to lead a life. An Indian farmer was not growing crops with a business mind. He/she involves in it for the food. According to this agreement, as the farmers are not doing this in business minded, reasoning that the farm lands are going to be bought by the US multinationals and the farming is going to be done in a profitable way.

After the lands are bought by the US multinationals, how can we stop them from sowing the genetically modified seeds in those lands? An Indo-US agriculture knowledge group is going to be created and the producers of the GM seeds Monsanto and Kargil going to be members in that panel. So the members of this panel pressurizing our government will become inevitable.

And its not going to end at that level. These US companies are going to enforce a monstrous law on us with the help of our own government. How many knows that Bio-technology regulation act is going to be approved in this current budget parliamentary session?

This act allows the government to arrest a person and put in jail for 6 months to a year or slapping a fine upto 2 lakhs if he/she indulges in the campaign against the GM crops without any proper evidences. According to law 27(1), the information and permissions on the GM crops won’t be shared under right to information act. In addition to that the panel (which comprises US multinationals has the right to overrule any decision taken by state government on this.’

And my thoughts on this:

I don’t know what’s the need for forcing the GM crops into our throat when the current agriculture method of using the pesticides already killing our land. As a citizens of our country why don’t we are not given the freedom which was given to some money thirsty multinationals. They are allowed to sell and run the business here without any trouble in the name of globalization and whatever blah-blah zations they have but a common man in this country can’t oppose that.

By using the seeds of these multinationals our farmers will become a slave of them and the prices of the food will be decided even before the seed is sown. A business minded approach to the foods will never ever yield a good result making us, the consumer, to suffer. I have once read about the US-based united fruit company which controlled the whole of the sugar cultivation of the Cuba during the Pre-Castro era, which deprived the rights of the farmers. And if the GM seeds are allowed inside, we will be in the same position. Then GM seeds will become a necessity in our life just like how the soft drinks become in our life, even though we know how harmful it is.

By depriving the information about these crops to us our government trying to hide something out of us. And if this law is passed I am sure, there is no looking back in becoming as the country which is going to be as a slave, the only difference is, one of our people will people but he/she will be keyed by the US multinational.