Jairam Ramesh faces ire of Andhra farmers over BT Brinjal issue in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Jan 31 (ANI): Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Sunday faced the angry protests of farmers in Hyderabad over a move to produce the genetically modified Bt brinjal.

Protesters are demanding that the government reverse its decision.

Ramesh said this was the first time he was facing such an unbecoming and unwarranted protes.

Some scientists, academics, members of civil society groups and farmers across India undertook a one-day fast on Saturday over this issue

He also faced a similar protest in Kolkata during the first public consultations on the genetically modified Bt-Brinjal on January 13 when he turned up to hear the opinions of scientists, farmers and research scholars on the issue.

Consultations are being held in Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

Last year, Ramesh had promised additional consultations with farmers' groups, NGOs, scientists and other stakeholders before the release of Bt brinjal.

BT brinjal is a transgenic brinjal created by inserting a gene cry1Ac from soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into brinjal. A US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation and a Maharashtra-based Indian company market BT brinjal in India. (ANI)