Beyond Bt Cotton: What's Holding Back India's GM Crop Revolution?
" India ranks 4th in the world for GM crop cultivation, yet only grows one. The question is: what’s holding us back?” This is one of the biggest paradoxes in modern Indian agriculture. Beyond Bt Cotton: What's Holding Back India's GM Crop Revolution? It has been nearly three decades since the first major genetically modified (GM) crops were commercially cultivated worldwide. Yet, as of today, only one GM crop is approved for commercial cultivation in India: Bt Cotton . The Case of GM Mustard (DMH-11): So Close, Yet So Far The most prominent example of this stagnation is GM Mustard (DMH-11). Despite being approved for environmental release by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) back in October 2022, it is still not being commercially cultivated. Developed by the University of Delhi’s Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants (CGMCP ) , DMH-11 contains genes from a soil bacterium that enable more efficient hybridization, boosting potential ...