A global review of GM crops

 

 Background

The world population has risen from 2.6 billion in 1950 to around 7 billion now, and is predicted to rise to 9 billion by 2050. Economists project that demand for food could rise by 70% by 2050.Most of this demand is likely to be from developing countries as they have the fastest population growth rates, and the highest number of people living with chronic hunger.They are also more at risk from resource shortages and the effects of climate change.The Millennium Development Goals aim to halve the number of people living with chronic hunger by 2015 and the UN Declaration of Human Rights recognises the Right to Food.The Food Security act proposed in India also is aimed at realizing and implementing this objective.

At the same time it is now realized that pressure to increase food supply can lead to deforestation exacerbating environmental degradation and climate change. Increasing food supply without causing a net change in land use means increasing production on existing land. This makes agricultural development in developing countries a pressing need.

Agricultural Development

Agriculture is economically important to developing countries: part of the definition of a developing country is having a majority of the labour force working in agriculture.One-third of Africa’s GDP comes from agriculture, and two-thirds of the labour force is employed in it.Most farmers in developing countries work on small holdings of less than two hectares.The optimal places to improve crop yields are areas such as sub-Saharan Africa and eastern India, where most of farms are rain-fed,with low inputs in terms of soil improvements or fertiliser.

GM science

 

GM crops are described by many different names – genetically modified organisms (GMOs), genetically engineered (GE), “transgenic” or “biotech” crops. In general, these all refer to a plant carrying an inserted DNA sequence that does not occur naturally in its genome (a ‘transgene’) and which has not been created by conventional breeding.

In 2012, GM crops were commercially grown in 29 countries, including 8 in the EU, 5 in Asia and 3 in Africa, amounting to approximately 12% of global crop land. The majority (>99% by area) consist of only four crops: maize, soybean, cotton and oilseed rape. Three main classes of trait are exploited:

• IR – Insect resistance – for maize and cotton and proposed for brinjal in India
• HT – Herbicide tolerance – used for all four main crops, plus sugar beet and alfalfa
• VR – Virus resistance – used for papaya, squashes, peppers, and being developed for plums.

 

India and China grow large amounts of Bt cotton, with an estimated 90% of India’s cotton crop being GM. Bt cotton is the cotton that has been modified to produce a protein from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis(Bt) , which acts as an insecticide for specific groups of insects.

Potential benefits of GM

GM offers the potential to improve crops in ways that are not possible through conventional breeding, by introducing traits that plants do not possess, such as herbicide tolerance or pest resistance. GM often has the same goals as conventional plant breeding. There are many potential GM crop improvements, although most are still at early stages of development. Examples include crops:

• That can grow in marginal or undesirable conditions, for example, saline tolerant rice.
• That can better tolerate drought or flooding, helping mitigate the effects of erratic weather patterns.

GM Crops for Small farmers

Current GM research has primarily focused on global commodity crops such as maize and soya. This has produced GM crops that could be grown by smallholders, but uptake has been slow. Other vital crops including millet, sorghum, cassava and cowpea, have not been a focus for seed developers.These crops have the potential for yield and pest and disease resistance to be significantly improved, as so little work has been done on them so far.

In some countries, e.g. India, China and the Philippines, there are instances of GM crops being grown ‘illegally’. This is done by crossing GM seed with local varieties, rather than buying ‘official’ GM seed from a distributor. This is primarily done by small farmers who cannot afford the premium for GM seed, or where GM seed has not been approved for sale in their country.It poses a particular problem for seed producers where liability clauses in biosafety legislation hold the original technology producers responsible for GM seed, even if it is used in ways that were not recommended. Appropriate regulatory infrastructures and fair pricing of GM seed could help to mitigate this.

Seed saving

Saved seed (collecting seed from crops to replant the next year) is an important resource for farmers in India.One of the major criticisms of GM crops in India is that for many commercially available varieties farmers need to purchase seed every year in order to maintain yields.As much of the current research on GM crops for developing countries is publicly funded, donor agencies are starting to require GM projects to allow farmers to save their seed. For example, all GM projects being funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation require the project to allow farmers to save their seed. The Indian government is also expected to take similar steps.

The Risks of GM

There is a polarised debate over the use of GM crops.

There are numerous studies examining the evidence for benefits and disadvantages of GM, as well as the extent to which this evidence is sufficient to fully assess the risks of GM.Environmental risks include the unintentional crossing of GM crops with non-GM varieties.Field trials have shown that this is possible in closely related species.There is no evidence so far in peer-reviewed established scientific literature showing a link between commercially available GM crops and a risk to human health,but there are always uncertainties. This had become a major issue in the debate over Bt brinjal in India.

There is also some evidence of GM crops causing environmental damage,although proponents claim this is limited to pre-commercial crops, and the ecosystem recovered within a few years.Because of the diversity of agricultural systems in different areas, it is difficult to generalise about the possible risks and benefits of GM crops. Any crop should be thoroughly assessed with regard to the technical, ecological, and economic, as well as the social risks posed in different contexts.Other solutions, including infrastructure, policy and institutional solutions, all need to be evaluated in order to determine if GM has a contribution to make to an agricultural development issue.

GM as a Component of Agricultural Development

• GM is not a single solution for all the problems facing agriculture in developing countries or even India. It has success in specific cases against particular problems. Current commercial varieties only combat problems with some pests and diseases. However, wider agricultural development issues also need to be addressed, for example:
• Crop storage and getting crops to market before they spoil. The Indian Government estimates that up to 40% of fruit and vegetables rots in the fields or on the way to market, and grains are also rendered inedible because of a lack of rodent-free cool storage.A lack of paved roads can cause food to spoil during transportation, particularly if it needs to meet international quality standards.
• Ensuring mechanisms are in place to allow benefits to reach poor and marginal famers, for example giving farmers access to crop insurance, which will protect them financially in the event of adverse weather conditions.
• There are also other agricultural improvements where GM could play a role, but other strategies may provide more cost-effective interventions. For example:
• Improving access to irrigation, which alone could in some cases increase agricultural yields by 100-400%.GM could develop plants that use water more efficiently, but improving access to irrigation through infrastructure development could be quicker and more cost effective.
• Improving soil fertility through increasing soil organic and nutrient content, as all crops require uptake of soil nutrients to achieve the best yields, even if they are modified to fix nitrogen, or have improved photosynthesis.
• Increasing resilience to extreme weather events, such as drought and flooding could be achieved by introducing drought or flooding tolerance into plants, or through improved agronomic practices such as ridge-and-furrow planting and mixed cropping.

Regulatory mechanism

One of the major problems in the development of biotechnology in India has been the lack of an effective regulatory mechanism with well defined procedures. This was also one of the key lessons drawn from the Bt brinjal fiasco. It is in this context that the Government has prepared a bill to set up a new biotechnology regulatory authority.

The draft bill seeks setting up of a biotechnology regulatory authority to regulate manufacture, import and use of organisms and products of modern bio-technology. The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India will be an autonomous regulatory body comprising a chairperson, two whole-time members and two part-time members.The proposed Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) will assess the safety and efficacy of biotechnology products leaving decisions on commercialisation and use to other central and state agencies.

The draft bill provides for setting of inter-ministerial governing board to oversee the performance of the Authority and a National Biotechnology Advisory Council of stakeholders to provide feedback on use of organisms and products of biotechnology in society.
The bill also provides for an elaborate risk assessment process involving scientific panels of experts and representatives of concerned ministries including special public review system for evaluation of applications before final approvals.

Critics however claim that this system will be dominated by the biotech industry and its lobby as it will be largely influenced by the Department of science and technology and the department of biotechnology. In any case India needs to move forward rapidly in order to ensure that it is not left behind the technology developments currently underway.

Computers can understand art just like humans?

Researchers have discovered that computers can understand and evaluate art much like humans. Computer scientists from the Lawrence Technological University in Michigan tackled the question if machines can understand art.

The study found that computers are able to “understand” art in a fashion very similar to how art historians perform their analysis, mimicking the perception of expert art critiques. The researchers used approximately 1,000 paintings of 34 well-known artists, and let the computer algorithm analyse the similarity between them based solely on the visual content of the paintings, and without any human guidance. Surprisingly, the computer provided a network of similarities between painters that is largely in agreement with the perception of art historians.

The analysis showed that the computer was clearly able to identify the differences between classical realism and modern artistic styles, and automatically separated the painters into two groups, 18 classical painters and 16 modern painters. Inside these two broad groups the computer identified sub-groups of painters that were part of the same artistic movements. For instance, the computer automatically placed the High Renaissance artists Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Michelangelo very close to each other.

The Baroque painters Vermeer, Rubens and Rembrandt were also clustered together by the algorithm, showing that the computer automatically identified that these painters share similar artistic styles. The automatic computer analysis is in agreement with the view of art historians, who associate these three painters with the Baroque artistic movement. Similarly, the computer algorithm deduced that Gauguin and Cezanne, both considered post-impressionists, have similar artistic styles, and also identified similarities between the styles of Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, and Giorgio de Chirico, all are considered by art historians to be part of the surrealism school of art.

While the average non-expert can normally make the broad differentiation between modern art and classical realism, they have difficulty telling the difference between closely related schools of art such as Early and High Renaissance or Mannerism and Romanticism.The experiment showed that machines can outperform untrained humans in the analysis of fine art.

The study was published in the ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage.

Renewable Energy: Need and Initiatives

Electricity is one of the key infrastructure requirements for the economy to grow.  In today’s world it is indispensable to every walk of life. Agriculture, Services, Industry…..you name it and you need it there. Considering the indispensability India is making all efforts  to generate  it from various sources viz. Hydro, Thermal, Nuclear and even non conventional sources like solar and wind energy.

The country stands today at a place where there is acute power shortage and its per capita consumption one of the lowest. As much as 75% of its electricity is generated by burning coal and natural gas. The extent of bankability on coal raises questions in the direction of limited reserves and the environmental concern thus posing a dual challenge, to be met, of availability of Power and clean environment.

This leaves India with the option of generating energy through non conventional sources and thus came the Ministry of new and renewable energy, trebling the generation from 5 to 15 GW. By 2022 it is expected to reach 40 GW. The country holds the potential to generate 150 GW of Power through renewable sources. As of now, electricity generation from renewable sources of energy is only 3.5%. It is likely to increase to 10% by 2022.

Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, launched on the 11th January, 2010 by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is a major initiative in the field of giving a boost to utilisation of non-conventional sources of energy. The Mission has set the ambitious target of deploying 20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by 2022 . It is aimed at reducing the cost of solar power generation in the country through long term policy; large scale deployment goals; aggressive R&D; and domestic production of critical raw materials, components and products. The  Mission will create an enabling policy framework to achieve this objective and make India a global leader in solar energy.

The 11th Five Year Plan witnessed an impressive progress in research and development and deployment in renewable energy sector. Ministry of new and renewable energy has sponsored 169 R&D projects in the area of solar energy, bio-energy and hydrogen and fuel cells with a total outlay of about Rs.525 crore. Renewables contributed to nearly 14,660 MW power during the 11th Plan and they will become more important in future.

The Ministry is providing subsidy of 30% of the benchmark cost  of the solar photovoltaic (SPV) systems. It is also providing subsidy  for installing solar lanterns, home lights and small capacity PV plants  through NABARD, Regional Rural Banks and other Commercial Banks.  Banks also extend credit facility to the beneficiaries at usual commercial rates to meet the rest of the cost. Upto 31st March, 2012 over nine lakh five thousand  solar lanterns,  eight lakh sixty two thousand  solar home lights and about eight thousand  solar water pumping systems have been installed in the country. During 2011-12, the  Ministry sanctioned a project for installation of standalone SPV power plants aggregating to 8740 kWp capacity in 4115 schools and 9 examination centers. During the current financial year,  a project for installation of 560 SPV water pumping systems in six districts of Bihar has been sanctioned. A Plan has also been prepared for increased exploitation of various renewable energy sources in the country during the 12th Plan .

The 12th Plan proposals envisage 29,800 MW grid-interactive and 3267 MW off-grid power generation capacity addition from various renewable energy sources and deployment of 7 lakh biogas plants, 35 lakh cook stoves, 8.5 lakh solar cookers and 80.5 lakh solar thermal energy systems in the country .  Twenty  million solar lighting systems and 20 million sq. solar thermal collector area is envisaged by 2022.

Efforts are also on to promote wind power through private sector investment by providing fiscal and promotional incentives such as concessional import duty on certain components of wind electric generators and  excise duty exemption to manufacturers. 10 years tax holiday on income generated from wind power projects is also available.  Besides, loans for installing windmills are available from Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) and other Financial Institutions. Technical support  is provided by the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET), Chennai.  The Government had announced a Generation Based Incentive (GBI) during 11th Plan period. Efforts are being made to continue the GBI scheme in 12th Plan.

National Tariff Policy was amended mandating State discoms to have a solar RPO of 0.25% by 2013 reaching  3% by 2022. The Government has already implemented a scheme to procure 1000 MW of solar power and supplying it to State discoms after bundling with equivalent capacity of thermal power.

Even generation of power from garbage and municipal solid waste is also being given due attention. The 16 megawatt project installed at Okhla in New Delhi is the only such project in operation in the country. The project, commissioned in May this year, has so far generated about 24 million units (kWh) of electricity. Projects on energy from municipal solid wastes (MSW) are being taken up by the Municipal Corporations in public private partnership mode by tying up with selected private companies.

There is abundance of solar energy available in most parts of the country. Ladakh, for instance has bright sunshine for 300 out of 360 days a year and it is one of the focus areas of the ministry in exploiting solar energy. What matters is to tap it for electricity generation or for other useful purposes. To make it affordable and cost effective, sincere efforts have to be made and suitable policies formulated. A total of around 1000 MW capacity solar power plants have been installed in the country in last two years and if this trend continues, the country will indeed achieve the target of 20000 MW by 2022. Alongside, due attention has to be paid to provide quality product and service to develop confidence among the users.

 

National Mission on Education Through Information and Communication Technology

The National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been envisaged as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to leverage the potential of ICT, in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all the learners in Higher Education Institutions in any time any where mode. This is expected to be a major intervention in enhancing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education by 5 percentage points. The Mission has two major components – providing connectivity, along with provision for access devices, to institutions and learners; and content generation.

The Mission aims to extend computer infrastructure and connectivity to over 25000 colleges and 2000 polytechnics in the country including each of the departments of 419 universities/deemed universities and institutions of national importance as a part of its motto to provide connectivity up to last mile. LAN of up to 400 nodes on average has also been envisaged to be provided to the universities under the NMEICT scheme. The Mission, in addition to utilize the connectivity network of service providers, shall explore the possibility to provide connectivity utilizing Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Virtual Private Network (VPN) and EduSat channels.

An amount of Rs. 4612 crore was allocated by the Planning Commission during the XI Five Year Plan for the National Mission on Education through ICT. During the current financial year (2012-13), there is budget provision of Rs. 850.00 crore.

The Minister of Human Resource Development unveiled a low cost access-cum-computing device (LCAD) “Aakash on 5th, October, 2011. The price of the LCAD is $ 49.98 / unit which include taxes, levies, and charges like freight and insurance, servicing and documentation etc. This price also includes one-year free replacement warranty from the manufacturer.

About 404 Universities and 18374 colleges have been provided connectivity under NMEICT Mission. LAN of up to 400 nodes is also being provided to the Universities under the Mission.

Under the NPTEL programme, web and video courses for engineering subjects and humanities streams are being developed. Over 250 courses are complete and made avialble in NPTEL phase-I and another 996 courses in various disciplines in engineering and science are getting generated in phase-II of NPTEL. E-contents for 77 Postgraduate subjects and 86 undergraduate subjects are also being developed under the Mission.

A strong Laboratory component is at the heart of all the Engineering Disciplines. It is a challenging job to provide an effective lab experience to engineering students. Under the Mission, almost 150 Virtual Labs are under development in various disciplines of engineering. Nearly 800 experiments are up and running.

Under the Mission, through NLIST programme, access to more than 3,100 e-journals and 80,000 e-books to all degree colleges except colleges imparting education in engineering, management, medical, nursing, pharmacy and dentistry.

The aim of the Mission is to freely make available knowledge in the form of e-content to learners across the country. To do so, in Mission Document, provision of 1000 DTH channels & other video based programme including iPTV for e-learning has been envisaged. Department of Space (DOS) has agreed to provide two Ku band transponders of 36 MHz each on GSAT-8. With this 50-60 education channels are being planned to be started immediately.

The Minister of Human Resource Development has also desired tht the NMEICT Mission should expand to the school education also during the XII Plan period. This ministry has suggested to Planning Commission that NMEICT scheme may be converted into Central Sector Scheme from Centrally Sponsored Scheme. For the XII Five Year Plan fund requirement of Rs. 22830 crore has been projected.
-PIB

Biotechnology Information Network

Bioinformatics is attaining greater significance in the life sciences research and industry and hitherto unexplored areas of biology. Research in biotechnology, which is highly knowledge and capital intensive, has generated a deluge of information in this decade. To make use of this information effectively, there is a need for high speed and large bandwidth network. Towards this end, the Department of Biotechnology has successfully established a high-speed and high-bandwidth network in the form of Virtual Public Network (VPN) named as BIOGRID INDIA. Eleven nodes have been established in the first phase, which are actively pursuing bioinformatics activities such as human resource development and R&D in bioinformatics besides, dissemination of biotechnology information to researchers in the country. This resource sharing helps in enhancing the value and usefulness of the BTIS, the only true resource sharing network in India.

BTISnet in a Nutshell

BTISnet a potential scientific network in the country comprises of more than 165 institutions having capable human resources and state of art infrastructure to carry out intensive research in bioinformatics and computational biology. More than 100 subject specific databases are currently available on the BTISnet.

Centres of BTISnet are networked and now some of them are being  networked through National Knowledge Commission network. Eight new centres have been added to the BTISnet. NEBInet which comprises of  27 bioinformatics  centres in North East states has opened up great opportunities in biotechnology for the North East Region of the country. Through this network it is now much simpler to generate and implement programs like biotech hubs, overseas associateship etc. Three major consortium projects on bioinformatics in TB, rice and mango have  shown excellent progress during the last year.

Centres of Excellence

Six Centres of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology have been established as part of  BTISnet. These Centres are well equipped with state of art infrastructure to support research. Each centre is responsible for developing a database in the identified thrust areas. Some of these efforts have received international recognition. The CoE at the Bose Institute, Kolkata is specialising in the areas like genome analysis, regulatory RNA stem cells, genomics and structural bioinformatics. The CoE at JNU, New Delhi is a part of the School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, with a major objective of development of human resource through teaching and research in the frontier area of computational biology, bioinformatics and systems biology. The CoE at Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai is specialising in the areas like structural bioinformatics, proteomics, data mining and computer aided drug design. The Centre at the University of  Pune, conducts M.Sc. course in bioinformatics. The Centre has developed 3 major databases namely viral protein structural database, antigen antibody genomics and viral genome resources.

R&D

The bioinformatics centres are being extensively used for intensive research by the hosts and neighbouring institutions. In addition scientists at bioinformatics centres have carried out research in gene analysis, protein structure prediction and engineering, modelling, macromolecular assembly, evolutionary biology, developing tools for peptide vaccine,  new tools for data mining etc.

The Department of Biotechnology is also supporting long-term teaching programs on bioinformatics and BIOGRID will be useful in sharing teaching materials, to deliver lectures through video conferencing-virtual classrooms besides synergizing research in biotechnology and bioinformatics. The mirror sites of internationally recognized genomic databases such as Protein Data Bank (PDB), Plant Genome Data Banks, Databases of European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) and public domain bioinformatics software packages are also available on the BIOGRID. The advantage of mirroring these databases in India is to provide unhindered mining of high quality data from well established primary and secondary information sources. The BTIS network will act as a knowledge pathway for discoveries in biotechnology and bioinformatics.
-PIB

Technocity – A Major Landmark in India’s IT Scenario

A landmark-in-the-making in the Indian IT scenario of India, Technocity of Thiruvananthapuram is fast evolving into the hub of global convergence with the expected arrival of big-time brands of the industry to set up their production centers, training campuses, development institutions and assorted other initiatives in the picturesque technopolis in the Pallippuram area of Thiruvananthapuram district.

“Our schedules are in the right track with enquires pouring in from across the world seeking info on investment potential and possibilities”, observes CEO-Technopark. “Mentored and nurtured by TeamTechnopark, Technocity, when it takes its final shape, will be a valuable asset to the State as also to the nation”, adds Sr. Manager-Business Development.

The shaping up process of Technocity is currently in progress, with the masterplan ready for take off, offering state-of-the-art infrastructure facilities for intending investors. Technocity, when fully commissioned will be an integrated IT township, spread across about 432 acres, which includes not just space for IT/ITES firms but also residential, commercial, hospitality, medical and educational facilities. The project will be a self-dependent satellite city, which would not strain the resources and infrastructure of the city of Thiruvananthapuram.

The units in Technocity will include a wide variety of companies engaged in a range of activities, such as Embedded Software Development, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Process Control Software Design, Engineering & Computer-aided Design Software Development, IT Enabled Services (ITES), Process Re-engineering, Animation and e-business. The firms will include domestic companies as well as subsidiaries of multi-national organisations.

Technocity provides all the infrastructure and support facilities needed for IT/ITES and electronics companies to function as well as for their employees to enjoy world-class lifestyles. In addition, Technocity, like Technopark, will provide business incubation facilities.

Techno city will have up to 25 million square feet of built-up space within multiple buildings for its tenant organisations. Technocity is being developed as an Integrated Township and it will include residential space, commercial space, retail facilities, multiplexes, hospitals and schools. This will enable employees in the companies at Technocity to enjoy a world-class lifestyle within walking distance of their offices.

Thiruvananthapuram is connected to the National Internet Backbone and Technocity will be serviced by a variety of bandwidth providers, including Reliance Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, Videsh Sanchar Nigam and Asianet Dataline, through fibre optic lines in the Campus.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd(TCS) are in the process of setting up Asia’s largest training centre which can train and accommodate 16,000 employees at any time in 82 acres of land already allotted to them. TCS already has their Global Learning Centre operational from Technopark Phase I. The Software Development Centre to accommodate around 10,000 professionals are getting ready in Technopark Phase I.

Infosys is in the process of setting up their next development centre in the 50 acres SEZ land allotted to them. Infosys already operates from Technopark Phase-I and Phase II. The third Software Development Block as well as the multi-level car park building is getting ready in the Phase II Campus.

Technocity will host at least two important educational and research institutes: The Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management–Kerala (IIITM–K) and The Asian School of Business (ASB) which has already started operations for its campus in Technocity, while IIITM-K is in the process of setting up their campus in the 10 acres of land allotted to them. Technopark is developing a 50 acre Special Economic Zone in Technocity.

Technopark was set up under the auspices of Electronics Technology Park, Kerala, an autonomous body under the Department of Information Technology Government of Kerala. The park is home to over 240 companies employing more than 32000 professionals. Technopark’s aim was to create infrastructure and provide support required for the development of high technology companies.

The park is growing steadily both in size and employee strength. Park centre, Pampa and Periyar were the only buildings in the beginning. The total land available with Technopark is about 771.54 acres. The land available with Technopark for phase one, phase two and phase three is about 326.54 acres leaving the rest of the land to Technocity. Technopark has periodically added new buildings such as Nila, Gayathri and Bhavani. With the inauguration of the 850,000 sq.ft. Thejaswini in February, 2007, Technopark became the largest IT Park in India. It has become the single largest source of employment in Kerala, with over 32000 people working directly in 240 companies in the facility itself and creating Rs. 2000 crore turnover with export earnings of Rs. 1977.32 crore  during 2010-11.
-PIB