Need for balanced regulatory system to promote use of bio-tech in farm sector: ICAR DG
According to a statement by the Agriculture Ministry on Sunday, Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS), in collaboration with ICAR, and the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII), organised a high-level roundtable on biotech crops.
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Context
The (ICAR) Director General has advocated for modernizing India's regulatory framework for agricultural biotechnology to promote the safe use of biotech crops. This call came during a high-level roundtable involving policymakers and scientists, emphasizing the need for a balanced, science-based, and efficient system to address challenges like climate change and food security. The focus is on updating the current multi-tiered regulatory structure governed by the to accommodate rapid technological advancements like .
UPSC Perspectives
Governance
The current regulatory ecosystem for Genetically Modified (GM) crops in India is notoriously complex and multi-layered, often leading to delays and hindering innovation. It involves several bodies: the Institutional Biosafety Committees (IBSC) at the organizational level, the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation (RCGM) under the (DBT) for safety evaluations, and the apex body, the (GEAC) under the (MoEFCC), which grants final approval for environmental release. This framework, established under the Rules, 1989 of the , was designed for older transgenic technologies. The roundtable highlights the urgent need for governance reforms to create a "science-based, transparent, efficient, and risk-proportionate" system. A streamlined, time-bound approval process is crucial to encourage both public and private investment in agricultural biotechnology. The current structure, which also involves the (FSSAI) and state governments, often creates a regulatory bottleneck, making it difficult for new technologies to reach farmers. A modernized framework would need to balance ease of doing business with stringent biosafety standards.
Economic
The economic implications of a modernized biotech regulatory framework are significant for Indian agriculture. The adoption of advanced biotechnologies, such as gene editing (like ), holds the potential to significantly enhance crop yields, improve nutritional profiles, and develop varieties resilient to biotic and abiotic stresses. This translates directly to increased farmer incomes and makes Indian agriculture more globally competitive. The roundtable presented evidence on the economic benefits of biotech crops worldwide, underscoring that delayed approvals cost the economy in terms of lost productivity and increased vulnerability to climate shocks. By facilitating the safe deployment of these technologies, India can address domestic food and nutritional security while also potentially boosting agricultural exports. The call for an efficient regulatory system accessible to "both public and private innovators" is key; a cumbersome process disproportionately hurts public research institutions and smaller ag-tech startups, stifling innovation and limiting the economic potential of the sector.
Environmental
A central theme of the roundtable was the role of agricultural biotechnology in achieving climate resilience and sustainable agricultural growth. As climate change leads to more frequent extreme weather events and shifting pest dynamics, traditional breeding methods may not be sufficient. Technologies like offer precise tools to develop crops that require fewer inputs (water, fertilizers, pesticides) and can withstand droughts or floods, thereby reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture. However, this must be balanced with robust environmental risk assessments. The regulatory framework under the must evolve to assess not just traditional transgenics (introducing foreign DNA) but also newer gene-editing techniques (modifying existing DNA). The concept of a risk-proportionate regulatory framework means that the level of scrutiny should match the actual risk posed by the specific technology. Harmonizing India's regulations with evolving global practices is crucial to ensure that environmental safeguards are maintained while allowing farmers access to essential climate-resilient crop varieties.