The Death Of Rice In India :No Basmati, No Katarni
Muhammad Javed Iqbal
We will soon be eating genetically modified rice invented by seeds
multinational corporations
Someone said, "Monsanto invented the pig.' Very soon we will learn,
right here
in India and Asia, that US and European seeds multinational
corporations "invented" rice. And soon we shall be paying up front
royalty to these companies for eating rice. Hold your breath; that
situation is upon us.
I pose this question to you before you read further: What would you do
to
a company that claims it "invented rice" and wants its pound of flesh
because you, Sirs and Madams, eat rice?
India is a rice country. Rice has been our staple for thousands of
years. A
French scientist had once said India has 200,000 varieties of rice.
Other environmentalists say 100,000. Does it matter? In the
traditional
rice producing regions I found that the taste and shape of rice often
differed from village to village. Not any more. Post green revolution,
the varieties available in the market for commercial sowing has
dropped
to about fifty what must surely be called the greatest destruction of
genetic diversity in any food crop anywhere in the world.
Forty
years ago when my mother cooked basmati rice, a gentle aroma would
pervade the entire home. Not any more. Under Green revolution rice
slowly hybridized into a commodity and now produced in large
mechanized
farms with heavy doses of fertilizers and pesticides. Bayer
CropScience, a German company, genetically modified rice seeds. This
gene revolution genie is now out of the bottle and no one knows how
many rice varieties are contaminated. No one really knows how much of
this engineered poison has already entered our food chain. And that
has
happened without proper biosafety studies.
Rice
belongs to the Oryza specie. Lay persons like me were told that rice
is
self pollinating with little or no chance of pollen drift and
contamination of neighbour's rice field. However, RiceTech, a US-based
hybrid seeds company, has documented that "wind assisted rice pollens
can move over 600 feet." [APHIS Workshop, September 13-15, 2004;
Abstract] If genetically engineered rice is planted amidst
non-genetically modified rice, there is every chance that
non-genetically modified rice will be contaminated and this is what
happened in the United States of America.
US Rice Gets Contaminated
Bayer
CropScience (the German multinational seeds company) conducted field
trials of LL601 (better known as Liberty Link 601) from 1999 to 2001
in
Louisiana. It then dropped the project and did not seek US Government
permission to market it. In 2006, widespread contamination of US
long-grain rice with LL601 trait was reported.
Covering
the event, Rick Weiss, the Washington Post staff writer, reported,
"The
U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating how the variety
escaped
from test plots into farmers' fields, where it was quietly amplified
for years until its discovery. The seeds and plants of LL601 look
virtually identical to those of the popular conventional variety with
which they had become mixed, said Steve Linscombe, director of
Louisiana State University's rice research station in Crowley.. The
day
the contamination was announced in August, Bayer asked the government
to approve the variety."
On
5th October 2007, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
concluded its genetically engineered rice investigation. Investigators
had hoped to identify how each GE rice line entered the commercial
rice
supply, but the exact mechanism for introduction could not be
determined in either instance. (Source: USDA, Press Release, www.usda.gov/
wps/portal/ usdahome? contentidonly= trueandcontentid /2007/10/ 0284/
xml)
However, it could not pinpoint how engineered rice seeds could
contaminate over such a large area. Speculation was rife: some said
mislabeling, others said human error, yet others said containers got
mixed up.
Approval By Contamination
On
24th November, 2006 the USDA granted marketing approval of
genetically- engineered Liberty Link 601 of Bayer CropScience. (GE)
rice
variety following its illegal contamination of the food supply and
rice
exports, first announced three months ago. The controversial decision
was taken despite the insistence of Bayer CropScience that it had
dropped plans to commercialize the variety five years ago. "With this
decision, USDA is telling agricultural biotechnology companies that it
doesn't matter if you're negligent, if you break the rules, if you
contaminate the food supply with untested genetically engineered
crops,
we'll bail you out," said Joseph Mendelson, Legal Director of the
Center for Food Safety. "In effect, USDA is sanctioning an
'approval-by- contamination' policy that can only increase the
likelihood of untested genetically engineered crops entering the food
supply in the future, and further erode trust in the wholesomeness of
U.S. food overseas," he added.
Naturally,
Bayer CropScience welcomed the decision of USDA. "The deregulation
confirms the preliminary decision of USDA, published on September 8,
2006, that LLRICE601 does not pose any environmental concerns and
should no longer be regulated."
http://www.bayercro pscience. com/bayer/ cropscience/ cscms.nsf/ id/
20061124_ EN?Open&ccm= 400020000& L=EN&markedcolor =%23003399
Oh
yes, it does, Mr. Bayer. That is why US rice consignments were
returned
or destroyed at Rotterdam port.and another, and another.and another.
Is India Vulnerable?
You bet it is. In January I received a set of documents from an
Agriculture
University in West Bengal that illegal genetically modified Bhindi
(Okra) has been planted. In March I was told in Jhansi
by Arun Shrivastava
nkdat...@my-deja.com
wrote:
> We will soon be eating genetically modified rice invented by seeds
> multinational corporations
>
> Someone said, "Monsanto invented the pig.'
>
A voice from Pakistan bemoans death of competition:
[We should be grateful that some Muslims remained in India and learned
to compete. These Muslims are going to compete internationally and
give us something to be proud of while our elites in Pakistan, who
shun excellence and hard work, maintain their privilege and
extravagance]
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\04\10\story_10-4-2009_pg3_4
Daily Times, Lahore, Pakistan
Friday, April 10, 2009
Jai Ho!
By Nadeem Ul Haque
nhaqu...@yahoo.com
[Nadeem Ul Haque is former Vice Chancellor of PIDE]
Many of us watched the Oscars with a lump in our throats when AR
Rehman was given a standing ovation by the American movie
establishment. Rehman, a Muslim from a country we don’t consider
friendly to Muslims, was eulogised by the Hollywood establishment,
traditionally controlled by those of the Jewish persuasion. Rehman’s
obvious talent overwhelmed them all. Jai ho!
There he stood, saying simple but powerful words: “I had a choice
between love and hate. I chose love!” A simple Muslim of simple
origins made us all proud with his talent. Jai ho!
What would he have been had he been in Pakistan?
He converted from Hinduism to Islam in 1989. Here, such a conv ersion
would have put him in grave danger; quite possibly, some zea lot might
even have snuffed out his talent. Yet in his acceptance speech at the
Oscars, at one point he said “Allah-o Akbar!” Jai AR Rehman!
For many years we have comforted ourselves by saying that Muslims have
no opportunities in India and that Pakistan was made to give Muslims
opportunities. Indeed, Pakistan has given some a lot of opportunities
to get rich. There are numerous stories of excess wealth gained
through government-dispensed licenses and plots, misuse of power, and
other abuses of public office. Wealth has been created and the new
class of rich shows off its Porsches, Range Rovers and other expensive
toys. Their lifestyles could even dwarf some of the well-heeled rich
and famous in India and the West. While we laud wealth and power,
talent has no place in Pakistan.
The rest of us run around serving these princes. Talented musicians
like AR Rehman play at the pleasure of this class. They play at their
parties and the expensive weddings of their children; they play and
the aristocracy hardly notices them. They do not even stay quiet
during performances, pay no attention to the artists or give them the
feeling of stardom. Because the stars are the aristocrats who managed
to make their money through corruption and manipulation. Jai power!
In Pakistan, this would have been the fate of AR Rehman. He would have
been a mere court musician. No Oscars, no rec ognition. Many a
talented Pakistani musician has been forgotten. They le ave behind
some good music, of which we buy pirated versions. None is honoured.
There are no Nur Jehan avenues or airports. No Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
squares, universities or buildings. No concerts; no awards and
certainly no major movies that could get them to the Oscars.
We are all aware of how Bollywood is full of Indian Muslims. And they
are widely respected in India. Darwin’s ideas seem to be at work:
Indian Muslims are flowering under competition and showcasing major
talent. Jai ho!
Darwin is right here too. We in Pakistan face no competition. Our path
to success is rapid gain through actions such as raiding the
exchequer, befriending the powerful, influence-peddling or power-
brokering.
Lives of privilege — where the taxpayer picks up the tab for
everything: from umrahs to polo, from mujras to free air travel, and
from plots to stocks — have led to generational deterioration. Hard
work is looked down upon and he who competes internationally is only a
kammi kamin. Ministers, the well-connected and the powerful, are not
supposed to dirty their hands or even consort with kammis like AR
Rehman and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Why? The answer is simple. Our leaders wanted to save themselves the
hard work of competition. They wanted and got easy rents — handouts
from the government. The army, the bureaucracy, the landed and the
licensed i ndustrialist all got it easily. They took no risks, they
did not innova te, and they developed no products. They competed
against no one for their ill-gotten gains, nor was there any
accountability. Kids now see that the path to success is rents and
influence, and that hard work and talent does not pay. After all, what
did we do to Dr Abdus Salam? So why work hard?
We do produce talent, for no country of 200 million can be devoid of
talent. Hashim Khan and his family, Imran Khan and his cousins,
several cricketers and hockey players, the wrestler Bashir, and, of
course, Abdus Salam. Now thankfully a few younger people like Mohsin
Hamid and Daniyal Moinuddin are beginning to blaze some sort of trail.
Will our musicians and artists have the opportunity to vie for the
Oscars? No, for our elites are too busy destroying institutions, and
talent cannot emerge without institutions.
These few talented people struggle against huge odds, with little
recognition at home. But most of our younger generation is lost. Rich
kids are given to pleasure and privilege, and the poor are turning to
religion out of desperation.
We should be grateful that some Muslims remained in India and learned
to compete. These Muslims are going to compete internationally and
give us something to be proud of while our elites in Pakistan, who
shun excellence and hard work, maintain their privilege and
extravagance.
So thank you, AR Rehman. Jai Indian Muslims!
> http://www.bayercropscience. com/bayer/ cropscience/ cscms.nsf/ id/