When Jairam Ramesh requested India’s academics to produce an assessment of GM, all they could do was to copy a corporate publicity handout. He sees problem-solving purely in terms of technological improvements in yield potential, farm productivity and integrated pest management, but underplays the social realities of agriculture.One has to think of the work of scientists beyond Dr Khush.The second event was a well-publicised article by world food laureate Gurdev Khush. He seems to think that every crisis merely needs a technical response to a technical question. By minimising social science wisdom, his Green Revolution portrait as a miracle of productivity becomes naïve and even dated. The first was a letter by 107 Nobel laureates chiding Greenpeace for criticising the introduction of GM crops. His IRRI-64 is a legendary rice variety, hailed as the most widely grown crop in the world. He accuses anti-GE activists of filibustering the proceedings of Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC). The ecological and biotechnological have to debate on open ground and the ethics of choices, the logic of problem-solving, and the nature of a risk society with solutions no longer predictable, certainly have to be highlighted.He warns against narrowing the field, but if anyone narrows the field literally it is the legendary Dr Khush.

In confronting two modes of problem-solving we must examine the paradigmatic basis of two approaches. His article begins with a Malthusian anxiety, a demographic trend, which recognises that not only will India be the most populous country by 2030, but also one where most of the population will be engaged in agriculture. There are two problems here: It ignores the fact that the Government of India has stalled debate by equating environmentalists with seditionists. One must also remember that social is not an addendum in these debates but a critical part of decision-making. The laureates’ list was impressive and interesting. There is a slight one-sidedness here in tactics. Cost is a consideration as the farmer does not have to depend on others for seeds.Dr Khush is unfair to GM’s opponents and fails to recognise that they too are providing counter-expertise, carefully collecting data, marshalling arguments without indulging in rhetoric or imputing motives. It is time for a more open debate where science and democracy in India will be under close scrutiny. Testimonials on the good conduct of GM crops, whether by scientific legends or Nobel laureates, is just publicity. The question to ask is this: Is it the only solution or the best solution He sees scientific data as an immaculate conception.Dr Khush, by being mono-paradigmatic, ignores agro-ecological approaches that outstanding scientists like Madhav Gadgil, Raymond Dasmann or Gordon Convay have suggested, one to emphasise that the critique of GM isn’t merely from social movements but from dissenting scientists. Dr Khush is silent on them, but considering such arguments is important, otherwise the pat he gives work like Delhi University’s research group Paintal sounds like empty paternalism. Utilising Dr Khush or 109 Nobel laureates as a public hoarding is not quite the answer to the question. He doesn’t have to buy seeds from outside, can reduce water usage to a minimum and yet get high output. The Nobel laureates saw Greenpeace’s action not as a Cassandra cry but an irrational defiance of a scientifically progressive product. Dr Khush says that while agricultural policy has catered to issues like soil, rural connectivity and irrigation, the question of doubling farmers’ income by introducing more productive varieties has not been considered adequately.

The title is a pun: "Don’t narrow the wholesale empty capsules field". One wondered where the ecologists were and one sensed in this age of reductionism, their chances getting a prize were remote. Social movements prove that it is GM advocates who are responsible for bad science and bad management. He has to realise that the Green Revolution is not just about productivity and technology, and these aren’t magic bullets for problem-solving.Dr Khush is obsessed with productivity and he sees GM crops as the solution. Sustainability has to be seen as more than yield management. One needs a paradigm of ecological prudence, not just technological productivity. The question is: should agriculture be so monolithic, or are there alternatives to posing the question around issues of resilience, diversity, sustainability and the matter of intellectual property, words which rarely enter his thesaurus or argument The question critics like Kavitha Kuruganti are asking is whether GM is the only solution, or are alternatives like systems of mustard intensification more adequate as they show better yields than GM mustard. First, GM advocates pick on Greenpeace as the major disrupter. We have to respect the data raised by dissenting groups that have repeatedly shown this is not so. Second, there is an assumption that the GEAC is correct in its handling of trials. Dr Khush is a legendary scientist with a copybook career at University of California at Davis and the International Rice Research Institute in Manila. It’s the absence of plurality and democracy in his work that is distressing.

In democracies, when citizens and social movements reply with good science, the scientific establishment must respond with openness. Activist groups have shown that GEAC needs to be scrutinised. He accuses anti-GM activists of "filibustering" without realising that even science has to respond to issues of dialogue and democracy. One should be sensitive to what sociologist Robert Merton called the Mathew effect, where papers by established scientists get more attention than those by ordinary workers.Two recent events have emphasised the urgency of introducing GM crops on a large scale. His dream is of "low input-high output" agriculture. Third, one has to ask scientists like Suman Sahai (Gene Campaign) whether the so-called best practices are foolproof. What one wants to challenge is the logic of his argument.The article published in an Indian newspaper is down to earth, quietly argued and impressive. Second, what they are offering is not a centralised solution, but a panarchic response that varies at the household and population level, and in terms of time.What the movements are offering is twofold — a critique of regulatory science and the outline of an alternative paradigm. Almost all were physicists and chemists.

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The court had given this direction while hearing a petition filed by the Maharashtra government’s CID, which is probing the Pansare case.On June 9, the high court had directed a Kolhapur sessions court, presently conducting trial against Gaikwad, to defer framing of charges.

The Bombay high court on Friday extended stay on framing of charges against Sameer Gaikwad, an accused in the Govind Pansare murder case, as prosecution is awaiting a forensic report from the UK. "CBI is in touch with authorities concerned and has assured that all necessary steps will be taken," said Mr Shinde. The report has been sought to find out if there was any link between the murders of Pansare, Narendra Dabholkar and M. Public prosecutor Sandeep Shinde told the HC that the CBI had sent empty cartridges recovered from the crime scene in all three murders to a forensic lab of Scotland Yard police in the UK.M. The CID challenged the Kolhapur sessions court’s May 20 order rejecting the prosecution’s application seeking to defer framing of charges against Gaikwad, pending forensic empty capsules suppliers report.

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I ran out, with the goons still chasing me," he said. When I turned back, the same goons were trying to hit me again.30 the released offender Antony, was present in front of Mayank’s house. I was taken aback and my phone slipped out of my hand. Box 1The Ulsoor police let the offender walk free soon after the incident. The policemen made me wait for over two hours and gave me an acknowledgement only around 10 pm, after which they allowed met capsule price me to go," he said. "I walked towards a shop and he started following me. Mayank told this newspaper, "After coming back from office on Thursday, I decided to go out for dinner around 7.’ But the cops, instead of threatening him or asking him to keep quiet, were smiling and chatting up with Antony as he is a regular visitor there.30 pm. "He came towards me threateningly and raised his hand as if to hit me. A police officer charged at Mayank."But as he walked towards a shop, he was hit from behind. Even with so many cops around us, he dared to threaten me. "He came towards me threateningly and raised his hand as if to hit me. Three people — Prakash, Antony and one unidentified man — were mercilessly beating up a street vendor, who generally conducts business near my house.

They arrived at the spot around 8 pm and managed to catch hold of one of the miscreants, Antony. The policemen made me wait for over two hours and gave me an acknowledgement only around 10 pm, after which they allowed me to go," he said."It seems the Bengaluru police is too scared to book local goons and is allowing them to roam free, instead of locking them up in cells, Mayank said."One of the rowdies who assaulted me is said to be a notorious habitual offender from the area and has been arrested several times."He told me, ‘You meet me outside. Little did he know that saving the poor street vendor would nearly cost him his life and that the police, instead of promising him safety and security, would threaten him. Box 3"Police officials at the front desk were extremely rude when the entire incident unfolded and took more than an hour to register the complaint that compelled me to shoot a video. I was on the phone as I stepped out of my society gate and saw a street fight. I ran inside a shop to save myself, but the goons chased me inside and started throwing empty bottles at me. It was clear that Antony, who was caught, had smoked marijuana.

In a scene straight out of movies, a Good Samaritan was chased by goons and threatened by one of the arrested rowdies in the police station, even as men in uniform indulged in small talk with the anti-social element in the city recently."Mayank, who was already made to wait for over an hour, started videographing the entire incident. Box 2On Sunday, a gang of men allegedly stopped Mayank’s friend Prerna (name changed), and threatened her and told her that Mayank should withdraw the police complaint filed against Antony, he said. After what seemed like ages, my call got connected and I informed the police about the incident. "Someone slapped me from behind. I ran towards the City Nest Club and from there, I took a cab back home," Mayank said. A police officer charged at Mayank. I told the vendor to just take his stuff and leave, and I walked off.Mayank Chauhan, 27, a resident of Jogupalya and a techie, was trying to help a street vendor, who was being beaten up by three goons on Thursday.. The shopkeeper instead of helping me, asked me to get out of his premises. Yallappa, one of the officials, also tried to threaten me physically for shooting a video," Mayank said."I had a small chance and I called up the police.. I will chop you into pieces. On Friday, Mayank registered another complaint with the Ulsoor police. Then we went to the police station.

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