Agriculture across the world has been engrossed in a debate around the issues regarding GM crops. These crops are genetically modified crops that have been developed using the applications of the developments in biotechnology to agriculture. The arguments and the debates surround issues like food security, resistance to weeds and pests, tolerance of the crops towards extreme weather conditions in the context of the GM crops. 

Application of the GM crops is a relatively new issue in the Indian context. It has widely been accepted around the world. In the year 1996, countries like the United States of America, Argentina, Mexico, China, Australia, and Canada pioneered by planting the first GM crops in the farmlands in their respective territories. Arable land around the world adds up to around 1.5 billion hectares. As per available data, in the year 2014, around 182 million hectares were used to plant GM crops. In this category of arable land, around 96.2 million hectares fall under the territory of developing countries and around 85.3 million hectares of land are in the area of developed countries. If one observes the data of the USA, the leading producer of GM crops, more than 90% of its canola, cotton, and corn is grown using GM seeds. Canada leads the world in terms of GM canola production. Crops that are grown using the GM seeds are known as transgenic crops. Among the transgenic crops, Soyabean has the highest adoption rate. 

Genetically modified crops hold the promise of answering the central question of food security and catering to the demands of a large population in the Indian context. But the introduction of genetically modified crops in India is not without its own set of hurdles and challenges. India has seen issues related to GM crops, starting from the Bt Brinjal issue to the issue of bollworm attack on GM cotton farmlands in Andhra Pradesh. The institutional architecture in India dealing with the issues related to genetically modified crops has five bodies. They are the Genetic engineering approving committee, the Institutional biosafety committees, review committee of genetic manipulation, state biotechnology coordination committee & district level biotech committees. There are claims presented by the proponents of genetically modified crops like an increase in the yield, increased resistance to pests and weeds. The ones who oppose GM crops use the argument that the countries with the highest production of Mustard do not use GM crops like France, Germany, UK, Poland, and the Czech Republic. They also argue that the pests can develop resistance to the pesticide like properties of the GM varieties of the crop plants and the genetic modification can make the crop-produce itself problematic for the humans. In the case of the debate surrounding the Bt brinjal, this became a central issue when it was found that the Cry protein produced by the genes from the Bacillus thuringienesis bacteria used in the genetic modification of the Brinjal plants, is not only poisonous to the fruit and shoot borers attacking the plants but it also has similarities to some allergens affecting humans. Other concerning issues related to GM crops which are weedicide and pesticide-resistant is that the excess use of the weedicide and other chemicals may lead to soil poisoning, the chemicals may also leach to underground water resources. In some cases, some specific weeds may become resistant to the excess use of pesticides. An example is Marestail weed which has found to become resistant to the weedicide and herbicide-Glyphosate. Supporters of the GM crops assert that designer foods can be produced with specific fortifications of specific kinds of nutrients in particular foodstuffs. Examples include rice enriched with the Lysine amino acid, iron, vitamins A and E, Maize varieties fortified with essential amino acids, nuts that are free of allergens. Some GM approaches can help design food which can be used as a defense mechanism against diseases, for example, bananas with Hep-B proteins can help give immunity against Hepatitis B. Some suggest the use of natural living materials like the bacteria Bacillus subtilis, which can help provide natural protection against other bacteria, pests or weeds. 

After the proposal to bring the GM mustard onto the Indian farmlands was known in the public sphere, the country witnessed lots of debates over news channels and columns in news dailies over whether the introduction is right or nor given all angles of farmer’s security, the greater food security, the undue advantage to companies supplying the GM seeds and pesticides inter alia. For example, the widely used pesticide chemical glyphosate is manufactured in huge amounts by the conglomerate Monsanto, which also supplies the GM seeds. This concerns the critics of the GM crops, since this may lead to monopolization of agricultural markets by a few conglomerate corporations who would be controlling the entire supply chains. Supporters of the GM crop introduction argue that most of the food products imported from abroad are themselves GM crops. Hence, they argue to grow GM crops in our own country. That would save millions of dollars from the foreign exchange reserve.  

A new topic of the national debate over genetically modified crops is that of mustard. GM mustard has been designed by a domestic team at the Centre of Genetic manipulation of Crop plants in Delhi University. This crop uses a system of genes present in the soil bacteria Bacillus amyloliquefaciens– the Bar Barnase Barstar. The Barnase and Barstar system helps in getting a male sterile plant which is necessary for cross-pollination of the Indian variety of mustard (Dhara) with an East European mustard type. The bar protein gives the mustard resistance against glufosinate- another widely used broad-spectrum herbicide. The issue with the glufosinate is that it is known to cause neurological effects and is identified as a neurotoxin in the European Union. Parties protesting against the GM crops which are glyphosate-resistant bring in a valid point that glyphosate is known to cause various medical conditions in children of Argentina who have consumed or whose parents have consumed GM soya and maize. 

In the larger context, the GM Crop issue has many angles like food security, the possibility of a few corporations monopolizing the agro-market, and others. Utmost care must be taken to see that few conglomerates are not eating out the profits from the platter of the farmers. In such cases, intervention from the government must be presented in terms of price support and regulation of the seed markets. Observations from all the corners of the arguments must be heard and incorporated before laying out any policy parameter in this regard as this is a larger matter of debate involving farmers, food security, public health, and market competition.