‘Don’t follow Genetically Modified crop science blindly’

According to Dr Ashwani Mahajan, national convener of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, those who oppose GM crops field trials are not opposing science. Despite Swadeshi Jagaran Manch being an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, there appears a surprise element in your objection to a Bharatiya Janata Party government’s decision to go for field trials of GM crops. But since the present government decided to go ahead with the field trials of genetically modified crops without taking into consideration the opinion of the scientific community and also the long-term interest of our farmers, we raised our concerns and registered our protest over it. MNCs are in favour of GM seeds, but there is no scientific study conducted by the Government of India about the impact of field trials.