Countering Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's statement on introducing Bt brinjal in the market, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said the Centre has every right to take the final decision when public safety is concerned.
Companies with any seeds of Bt brinjal, the genetically modified version of the vegetable, will have to register the details with the government, to ensure none of it is sowed or otherwise gets into the market.
Amid a raging debate over release of Bt brinjal for commercial use, Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Tuesday said genetically-tweaked variety of the vegetable was 'safe for all'.
The department of telecom has issued letters of intent to BT for national and international long distance services for offering managed services to corporate customers having sites in India.
Thanks to Bt, India's cotton fields are not suicide fields any more. The genetically modified seed has come as a godsend for farmers in several cotton-growing states with many of them reaping in rich dividends from Bt Cotton cultivation.
Our native brinjal has a medicinal value and once there is contamination, the medicinal value in the natural brinjal will automatically be lost.
Private equity (PE) players and investment bankers are divided over the timing of the BT Group's reported move to exit Tech Mahindra. BT owns about 30 per cent in TechM.
Mahyco confident of regulatory approvals, plans launch within a year.
The issue had rocked the state during the past few weeks amid news reports that a huge number of sheep, goat and cattle perished in Andhra Pradesh after eating Bt Cotton leaves.
Are post-harvest Bt Cotton fields death traps for sheep? If reports from Andhra Pradesh are any indication, Bt Cotton is set to embrace another controversy soon.
The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) is all set to file the country's firstever bio-piracy criminal case against companies involved in developing BT Brinjal by using its local variety, a top official said.
Bacillus Thuringiensis Brinjal, popularly known as Bt brinjal, is at the centre of a major controversy in India. Bt brinjal, a genetically modified strain created by India's number one seeds company Mahyco in collaboration with American multinational Monsanto, claims to improve yields and help the agriculture sector.
Cotton farmers in India are going to get a bountiful of hybrids to select from this year onwards.
The Bt brinjal issue had been firmly opposed by civil societies, NGOs and a section of scientists and health experts on the genetically modified vegetable's effects on human health and soil fertility.
Kharge will take care of IT & BT along with existing portfolio, while Large & Medium Industries Minister M B Patil has been given the additional charge of Infrastructure Development.
The Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt) brinjal episode will not impede the research work being carried out in the field of food and crop biotechnology in the country, a top scientist said.
Such a drastic intervention overrides existing private bilateral commercial contracts
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday brushed off all allegations and reiterated his support for the introduction of Bt brinjal. He asserted that the introduction of the genetically modified brinjal can take place as it has been recommended by Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC), a scientific body, after carrying out a series of trials and tests on its impact on nature.
Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh was on Sunday gheraoed in Hyderabad by people opposed to the introduction of Bt Brinjal in the country.The protesters from Left-affiliated farmers' outfits and Swadeshi Jagaran Manch raised slogans like 'Bt Go Back' and mobbed the minister on the dais at an event organised at the Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture in Hyderabad.
BT has been associated with Tech Mahindra since the latter's inception and contributes 40 per cent to the firm's revenue but it has been looking at divesting its stake.
By embargoing Bt brinjal, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh may have done a greater service to democracy than he intended, says Praful Bidwai.
Although, global slowdown is the main reason behind the move, officials said the land, which was meant for the IT-BT Park, has now been allotted to other industries for expansion purposes leaving no place for the project.
Amid reports that its chairman Christopher Bland has sought Indian government's help to resolve a bandwidth-related dispute with VSNL, British Telecom said it is engaged in a mutually beneficial dialogue with VSNL.
Even as the country awaits the final word on genetically modified brinjal, seed company Monsanto is moving ahead with new products.
BT Group Plc, Britain's largest fixed-line telecom provider, said on Friday its BT retail unit would set up two call centres in India, joining a long list of firms moving to that country in a bid to cut costs.
Chanting 'Justice for RG Kar' and 'Justice for our sister', hundreds of IT professionals took to the streets of Sector V in Salt Lake, the city's IT Hub, protesting against the rape and murder of a post-graduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Hospital.
The moratorium imposed on Bt brinjal last year is likely to continue, despite the expert committee, set up by the environment ministry, favouring "limited release" of the crop.
BT group, the UK's incumbent telecom operator will acquire Mumbai-based i2i Enterprise Ltd, a company specialising in Internet protocol services to become a leading global carrier in the local market.
The Biocon chairman said there is a regulatory path for GM crops which aims to establish safety and efficacy over an accepted period and it has been diligently followed by Bt brinjal on the basis of which the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee has given its positive verdict.
Buoyed by the initiatives taken by the government in the communication sector, UK telecom major, British Telecom, on Thursday said it would look at the option of starting services in India in IT and BPO sector.\n
Communications solutions and services provider British Telecommunications' (BT) Indian arm, BT India (BTI), on Tuesday said it will invest 375,000 pounds (about $558,418) for setting up its Asia Pacific security operations centre (SOC) in the country.
British telecom giant BT has offloaded 9.1 per cent stake in Tech Mahindra for Rs 1,011.4 crore, marking its exit from the Indian IT services firm.
Agriculture being a state subject, the Centre could not impose its policy on states, Madhya Pradesh agriculture minister Ramkrishna Kusmaria, who was in Thiruvananthapuram to attend a two-day national meet on genetically modified crops, told PTI.
The whitefly outbreak has intensified a debate over GM crops just as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office reviews a proposal to allow farmers to grow GM mustard.
The Bt cotton variety Bollgard-I, which is the most widely used variety in India, has been phased out in many countries.
During his month-long tour, Ramesh would seek views from scientists, agriculture experts, farmers' organisations, consumer groups and non-government organisations on the report submitted by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee on Bt brinjal in October.
Since this is an edible crop, it is even more important to ensure that there is no contamination of non-GM crops.
Last year, the state was flooded with spurious Bt cotton seeds and the farmers and original manufacturing companies had suffered major losses.
UK-based telecom company BT today completed the sale of its 5.5 per cent stake in Tech Mahindra to partner Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) for Rs 451 crore ($100.2 million). After the sale, BT has 24.4 per cent in Tech Mahindra.
Auto giant Mahindra & Mahindra on Friday said it has agreed to acquire 5.5 per cent of IT firm Tech Mahindra's stake from UK-based British Telecommunications Plc (BT). UKs largest fixed-line phone company BT holds 30 per cent stake in Tech Mahindra.
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