Farmers in big protest rally in India: burn effigy of Monsanto

Jabalpur: On the eve of Gandhi Jayanti and in protest against the GM Corn open air field trial happening in Jabalpur, more than one thousand five hundred farmers from 20 districts of Madhya Pradesh gathered here today for a peaceful, non-violent demonstration and demanded that the state government declare Madhya Pradesh as a GM-Free state. The activists pointed out that the state government already took the progressive step of declaring that Madhya Pradesh would be made into an organic state. It follows naturally that there should be no GM crop trials or cultivation in the state, they pointed out.

Mr Jayant Verma of Hamara Beej Abhiyan said that companies like Monsanto were notorious for their anti-farmer activities and if GM seeds like Monsanto's GM Corn are allowed, farmers' rights over their seeds and therefore, their agriculture, would be seriously jeopardized. The state government should, as a real solution to the current agrarian distress in the state, should shift farmers towards low-cost, toxic-free ecological farming practices, he said.

The GM Corn trial underway in open air conditions in Jabalpur consists of Monsanto's proprietary technologies centred around herbicide tolerance and insect-resistance and has been sown with the permission of the Central Government. "Both Agriculture and Health are state subjects as per the Indian Constitution. The state government should immediately intervene and exercise its policy of making MP into an organic state", demanded Mr Nilesh Desai of Beej Swaraj Abhiyan.

It is also apparent that the state level apparatus laid down under the Environment Protection Act's 1989 Rules is missing in Madhya Pradesh.

"It is ridiculous to pump in crores of rupees for supporting rural employment in the form of NREGA and then take away existing employment potential in agriculture, especially for women and poor agricultural workers, by bringing in technologies like herbicide tolerance", stated Mr Brij Kishore Chaurasia of Adivasi Sushasan Sangh.

"GM crops do not increase yields as claimed by the industry and pro-GM scientists and it is apparent in the case of Bt Cotton in Madhya Pradesh. This technology, which is irreversible and uncontrollable, will be a bigger trap for farmers than the earlier corporate-driven agricultural technologies. The state government, for the sake of farmers and agricultural workers in Madhya Pradesh, should immediately destroy this trial plot and not allow any more trials in the state like other states like Kerala", said Mr Ishwar Tripathi of Bhartiya Kissan Union. "In this kind of neo-colonialism, agriculture and seeds have become the medium to enslave Indian farmers and we should resist this at all costs".

Mr Sachin Jain from the Right To Food Campaign, MP informed that GM foods are known to cause many adverse health effects and with such unsafe foods, a precautionary approach is the only way forward. He demanded that GM foods should be prohibited through the proposed Right to Food/National Food Security Act.

The protestors burnt the effigy of Monsanto and presented a memorandum in the name of the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to the district authorities.

A traditional tribal ritual for banishing evil forces like Monsanto and GM Corn was also enacted by the tribal activists. Further, a funeral procession of GM Corn was taken up in a rally through the city. More than 40 networks, groups and organizations that joined this huge protest included: Coalition for a GM-Free MP, Beej Swaraj Abhiyan, Hamara Beej Abhiyan, Lok Jagriti Manch, Bhartiya Kissan Union, Dalit evam Adivasi Mahapanchayat, Right to Food Campaign, Madhyanchal Forum, Kissan Sangharsh Samiti, Jan Pahal, Nagarik Adhikar Manch, Bargi Bandh Visthapith evam Prabhavit Sangh, Adivasi Sushasan Sangh, etc.