Since this is an edible crop, it is even more important to ensure that there is no contamination of non-GM crops.
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 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.
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.
Last year, the state was flooded with spurious Bt cotton seeds and the farmers and original manufacturing companies had suffered major losses.
South Africa bounced back to defeat India by 12 runs in the first women's T20I to secure their first win of the multi-format tour
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.
The types of jobs to be brought back home could require staff to work weekend shifts and up until 11pm at night. The communications workers union has said that it will be unfair for call centre operators to work for the hours, particularly for those with families.
With his ministerial colleagues and experts expressing reservation on moratorium on Bt-brinjal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of concerned ministers on the issue this week.
Alarmed at the possible ill effects commercial cultivation of Bt Brinjal could have to their traditional Brinjal crop, villagers at a gram panchayat in Kerala have launched a campaign to showcase their varieties to the world, distributing seedlings to households in the area and highlghting its 'medicinal' effects.
Environment Minsiter Jairam Ramesh will from Wednesday hold a series of public meetings across the country on the controversial Bt brinjal which was cleared by the country's bio-technology regulator last year for its commercial cultivation.
A moratorium 'for now' on Bt brinjal is a healthy breathing space. It could still turn toxic if any one technology is pushed at the cost of a multi-dimensional approach to securing our food future, says Rajni Bakshi.
The transaction will be done through the stock market via block deals.
While the moratorium on the commercial introduction of Bt brinjal will continue for now, it may not last indefinitely. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who addressed the issue among his combative ministerial colleagues this evening, is said to have asked for a swift assessment of all scientific and safety issues relating to the genetically-modified (GM) variety of the vegetable.
Bt brinjal is a genetically-modified vegetable which is infused with Cry1Ac gene from a bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis to make the plant resistant to the fruit and shoot borers and certain pests.
The ministry of environment and forests, according to documents available on its website, had set up a Bt brinjal Technical Review Committee early in 2007.
It may creep in via Bangladesh and Philippines, according to A R Reddy, co-chair of Genetic Engineering Approval (now Appraisal) Committee that approved the vegetable for commercial use.
Bacillus Thuringiensis Brinjal, popularly known as Bt brinjal, is at the centre of a major controversy in India.
The moratorium on commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal, the genetically-modified form of the vegetable, is not likely to end anytime soon.
Debates over introducing Bt brinjal, the first genetically modified food crop in India, might have taken a different turn if the government had taken note of studies by one of its own R&D bodies, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, showing that indigenous methods of controlling the notorious fruit and shoot borer can be as effective, cheaper and more environment friendly than using chemical pesticide.
Never since the days of the Green Revolution in the 1970s has a food crop aroused the curiosity of the agriculture community as much as the country's first genetically modified vegetable, Bt brinjal has.
Their representatives joined hands on Wednesday at a conference called in Kerala by the state government and called their united stand the second war of Indian independence.
World No. 1 Yamaguchi, however, had to toil hard to get across three-time world champion and Rio gold medallist Carolina Marin of Spain 21-17, 14-21, 21-19 in the day's first match at the IG stadium in New Delhi.
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.
Tech Mahindra has bagged a five-year contract from British Telecom, under which the Indian company will provide strategic sourcing services to the global communications solutions and services provider.
British Telecom of the UK is considering a low-powered global system for mobile communications service in India, which can bring down the costs significantly on calls made by mobile phones inside offices.
The father of the Green Revolution explains how the genetically-modified version of brinjal may kill biodiversity.
The approval to genetically modified (Bt) brinjal seems to have been been given without adequately assessing long-term health risks, although with a stipulation that surveillance and long-term follow up should be conducted two conditions that experts are aware have not been fulfilled even in the case of some critical drugs.
Not all state governments have been kind to the global seed giant Monsanto. And cotton farmers have been less than grateful for the genetically modified technology that is said to have changed their fortunes dramatically.
HCL Technology Ltd has secured a contract worth $180 million for its business process outsourcing service operations from BT, a global telecommunications services provider.
Outsourcers will not migrate to China because of the sheer talent and English language proficiency in India, says Arun Seth, chairman, British Telecom India.
Response to Bt cotton has been favourable and about seven more companies are preparing to release their genetically modified cotton hybrids for commercial use shortly, a study conducted by Rabobank International says.
Bangladesh crushed UAE by 195 runs to win the Under-19 Asia Cup in Dubai on Sunday.
Coal India (CIL) produced 89 million tonnes (MT) in March-24, up 6 per cent year on year (Y-o-Y) and offtake was 69 MT, up 7 per cent Y-o-Y. FY24 production was 774 MT, up 10 per cent Y-o-Y. Offtake was 754 MT, up 9 per cent Y-o-Y. CIL targets production of 838 MT in FY25, up 8 per cent Y-o-Y over FY24.
The conversion of Indian farmers from traditional varieties and public hybrids to commercial hybrids and GM seeds could create a market larger than China.
