White egg-shaped brinjal, orange-yellow round type, red ones, single Brinjal weighing more than 2 kg, small marble-sized ones  - all in all, about 50 varieties of brinjal were on display at the ‘Brinjal diversity Mela’ at Lalbagh on 5th April. Some of these brinjal varieties are rarely cultivated and thus rarely available. This event was an effort to reach out to the public and farmers to inform them about the diversity of a species, educate them about effects of ‘Genetically Modified food technology’. The fest saw notable guests, including film actress Tara and artist MS Murthy and included informative talks from scientists, doctors and farmers.

People checking out the display (Pic: Divya Sharma)

The event was jointly organised by Sahaja Samrudha (an organic farmers association) and the Association for India’s Development (AID), the Jaivika Krishi Society (JKS), Samvada and the Mysore Horticulture Society (MHS). The mela drew a huge crowd on Sunday. Greenpeace, the environmental activist group, and an opponent of GM food, also had its stall in the venue. There was cooking competition and drawing contest – all on the brinjal theme. Key point was screening of the movie ‘Poison on the platter’ produced by noted film maker Mahesh Bhatt.

GM or Genetically Modified – in simple terms would mean ‘cut-and-paste’ of genes from one organism to another, unrelated organism. This concept has raised heated debates world-wide on the use of food crops based on such organisms. While the promoters say that this is the answer to feed the hungry populace, concerned experts argue that such food may have long term undesired effects and ultimately be a millstone on the shoulders of mankind already burdened with other serious challenges.

Cotton was the first GM crop released for commercial cultivation in India in 2002. GM food concept has gained momentum and today India is under tremendous pressure to allow them into the domestic market.

White brinjal (Pic: Divya Sharma)

Concurrently, the movement against GM is getting stronger by the day. Aside from GM cotton, no other GM crop has been commercially released as of yet. But, most of India’s corn and soya imported from US is genetically modified. More worrisome is the fact that there could be large availability of illegal GM foods.

Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) is the government regulatory body in India. This is the sole agency for approval of GM food. Large field trials and final nod of consent for the commercial release happen under the authority of this body. This is supported by the Indian government’s Department of Biotechnology.   

Though people are aware about the GM food, most of us don’t know its availability or what to do if the supermarkets are stacked with it. “What! GM brinjal?” Raksha N, mother of two can’t believe it. “It is one of the favourite in our household and now I will have to think twice before buying brinjal. Would it really remain a vegetable with spider-genes in it?” she says, clearly upset.

“Let them label it. So that people who don’t mind buying GM vegetables can do that and those who don’t want them, can stay far from it” is the practical approach of Anantha Rao, who says he loves brinjal. He is a consultant with an IT firm.

Is labelling possible? Sejal Parikh, an volunteer from the Association for India’s Development clarifies, “labelling is not possible in a developing country like India where the distribution network cannot be controlled. Even growing GM food as per international standards is difficult in India where farmers normally have small lands. That’s one of the reasons why we are protesting GM food.” International standards stipulate that there should be a minimum distance maintained between a field growing GM crop and an adjacent field which grows a non-GM crop.

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