Group of Secys recommends promotion of two GM pulses

While it is yet to take a final call on allowing commercial cultivation of genetically modified hybrid mustard, the government appears favourably disposed towards planting of GM pulses.
A Group of Secretaries (GoS) on??Farmer Centric Issues in Agriculture and Allied Sectors? ? one of the eight constituted to deliberate on ?important themes? following a meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 31 ? has recommended ?promotion and time-bound deregulation? in the case of two transgenic insect pest-resistant pulses.The group has also backed the suggestion to set up an Office of Biotechnology Regulations (OBR) to strengthen the regulatory mechanism, even while efforts continue to finalise a fresh legislation to create an independent regulator, the proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI). In the last seven years, three unsuccessful attempts have been made to get the legislation passed in Parliament.
Sources told The Indian Express that efforts to set up this new regulatory division, being modelled on the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator of Australia, are already under way. A Biosafety Risk Assessment Unit has been created and is functional for the last few months.

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