ICAR is the shadow warrior for GM companies

From the 'Letters' page of the popular weekly Outlook (May 31, 2010)

Helping Hands

"You did not highlight the role agricultural scientists and economists play in lobbying. The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) is the shadow warrior for big agribusiness and biotechnology companies. The moratorium on Bt brinjal has already disheartened the scientific community; it is now pitching for an independent scientific review to bring it back into the market. For years, these scientists have promoted chemical pesticides and fertilisers; now they are promoting GM crops. While farmers are dying, the stocks of agribusiness companies are going up. And while close to 200,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1997, ICAR and the universities have not held even one major national conference/seminar on the issue. Every third day, however, you find them holding conferences and workshops on GM crops, biosafety and the glorious future these biotech seeds and foods hold for our farmers."

Devinder Sharma, on email