The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
The research isn't unequivocal and hasn't been publicly-funded either - given the concerns, it's not worth the risk Sunita Narain / New Delhi February 12, 2010, 0:40 IST As I write this, the Union minister of environment and forests has decided to put the introduction of Bt brinjal on hold. …
Brinjal populism should not stymie regulation By putting an open-ended moratorium on the commercial cultivation of the gene-altered Bt brinjal, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has ended the long-pending uncertainty over this issue. If, despite nine years of testing and safety trials to the satisfaction of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee …
The National Seed Association of India (NSAI) today called upon the Andhra Pradesh Government to immediately increase the price of Bt cotton seeds. Unless this is done immediately, it would not only impact the financial viability of seed companies but could also lead to shortage of seeds as companies may …
G. Srinivasan After interacting with activists and scientists at seven public hearings across the country, the Union Minister of Environment and Forests Mr Jairam Ramesh's Tuesday announcement of a moratorium on commercialisation of Bt. brinjal makes clear, and unambiguously too, that bioengineering of commercial crop and food crop is not …
Though commercial release of genetically modified brinjal has been put on hold, documents made public by the government suggest a proposed study to assess the vegetable's need and possible socio-economic impact on farmers was never done. Activists and farmers stage a protest against the commercialisation of genetically modified BT Brinjal …
Sanjeeb Mukherjee : Even as he moved to put Bt brinjal in cold storage, the environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh admitted that he is all for Bt cotton. But if we consider all the good that Bt cotton has wrought, the idea of setting aside India
In placing a moratorium on the release of Bt brinjal till independent scientific studies establish its safety, the Union Environment Ministry has quite rightly addressed both scientific concerns and public opinion. After the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee cleared Bt brinjal in October 2009, the country witnessed widespread protests, some of …
There are too many loose ends in the Union environment minister's decision to reject the apex Genetic Engineering Approval Committee's clearance after years of testing, to genetically modified (Bt) brinjal. One trusts the months ahead will see a process put in place that ensures such an outcome isn't repeated. There …
At a press conference here on 9 February, India's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, announced a "moratorium" on commercial release of what would have been India's first genetically modified food crop: varieties of eggplant, called brinjal in India, equipped with a protein from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that's toxic to …
Population growth, arable land and fresh water limits, and climate change have profound implications for the ability of agriculture to meet this century
To feed the several billion people living on this planet, the production of high-quality food must increase with reduced inputs, but this accomplishment will be particularly challenging in the face of global environmental change. Plant breeders need to focus on traits with the greatest potential to increase yield. Hence, new …
Continuing population and consumption growth will mean that the global demand for food will increase for at least another 40 years. Growing competition for land, water, and energy, in addition to the overexploitation of fisheries, will affect our ability to produce food, as will the urgent requirement to reduce the …
It is now 42 years since the term "Green Revolution" was coined by Dr William Gaud of the USA to describe advances in production arising from productivity improvement. Even in 1968 I had concluded that if farm ecology and economics go wrong, nothing else would go right in agriculture. I …
RASHME SEHGAL Did the arrival of US diplomat Nina Fedoroff, science and technology adviser to secretary of state Hillary Clinton in New Delhi on Monday evening force Union minister of environment Jairam Ramesh prepone his decision to put a moratorium on Bt Brinjal by a day? Ms Federoff has been …
The moratorium should be seen as something that will encourage science to succeed. The Environment Ministry's decision to place a moratorium on commercialisation of India's first food crop, the genetically-modified brinjal (Bt Brinjal, containing a gene from the soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis that repels select pests) comes as no surprise …
Dhiraj Nayyar : Jairam Ramesh has spent the better part of his 8-plus months in office as the environment minister trying to break away from the traditionalist/conservative mould that his ministry has acquired over the years. He committed himself to the PM
Bt brinjal is on indefinite hold because the Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, has said there are many questions still to be answered. But the fact is there are many questions the minister needs to answer. We look at the Bt brinjal story from the day Ramesh took charge as Environment …
