Relevance of Genetically Modified Plants to Indian Agriculture

Contents: Foreword. Preface. Acknowledgements. Introduction. I. Relevance of agricultural biotechnology for Indian agriculture: 1. Biotechnology and the future of Indian agriculture/R. S. Paroda. 2. The changing scenario of agricultural biotechnology/Manju Sharma. 3. Nutritional genomics/Asis Datta. 4. Prospects for the nutritional improvement of crops/Malathi Lakshmikumaran.5. Transgenic plants and their impact/Akilesh K Tyagi. 6. The relevance of biotechnology to Indian agriculture/C.  S. Prakash. 7. Transgenic rice: use beyond research/Swapan K Datta. 8. The Indian food scenario/S Vardharajan. 9. Moving into the next millennium with food security/Anil Kush. 10. The relevance of transgenics to Indian agriculture/S. K. Sen. 11. An insight into transgenic research/R. P. Sharma. 12. Applications of biotechnology to Indian horticulture/S. P. Ghosh. 13. Plant biotechnology: a few concerns and suggestions/G. K. Garg. 14. Deployment of Bt transgenic plants in India/S. K. Raina. 15. Initiatives taken by the ICAR to bring transgenic technology to the country/Kailash C Bansal. II. Importance of regulatory, biosafety, and public acceptance of agricultural biotechnology products: 16. Biosafety guidelines: international comparisons/P. K. Ghosh. 17. The regulatory environment in managing Indian biotechnology/Arvind Kapur. 18. Gene flow from transgenic crops: a significant biosafety issue/B. M. Prasanna. 19. GM research and its impact on Indian agriculture/Suman Sahai. 20. Public acceptance of genetically engineered plants in India: an analysis/S. R. Rao. III. Economic implications and intellectual property rights-related issues of genetically modified plants: 21. Economic implications and the TRIPS agreement/Sachin Chaturvedi. 22. Biotechnology, intellectual property rights, and Indian agriculture: an agenda for the future/C. Ramasamy and R. Balasubramanian. 23. Economic implications of commercializing transgenic plants/K. P. Rao. IV. Commercialization of genetically modified plants: the industry\'s perspective: 24. Transgenic crops in the Asia-Pacific region: the industry\'s perspective/Partha R Dasgupta. 25. Pest management with transgenic plants: economic and environmental impact/T. M. Manjunath. 26. Bt cotton: biosafety, ecological, and economic implications/ K. S. Mohan. 27. Bt cotton biosafety: a case study/M. K. Sharma. V. The relevance of agricultural biotechnology: public acceptance and the farmer\'s view: 28. Modern technologies for the improvement of agriculture in developing countries: a farmer\'s point of view/Chengal Reddy. 29. Genetically modified crops: a farmer\'s point of view/Bhupinder S Mann. 30. Genetically modified foods: the consumer\'s concern/S. R. Khanna.

"The use of genetic engineering techniques for producing transgenic plants results in the transfer of desirable traits across the species barrier. This has led to a worldwide debate on a range of ethical, moral, and social, considerations associated with the risks and benefits of this technique to man and the environment. The world has literally become a battleground involving scientists, politicians, policy-makers, journalists, industry representatives, farmers, and consumers with a polarization of society into proponents and opponents of biotechnology. Genetically modified foods are being labelled \'Frankenstein foods\' with accusations that the technique challenges the role of God, the sanctity of nature, the ownership of life forms, etc. However, it is equally true that the achievements of the green revolution are proving insufficient for feeding India\'s teeming millions. Biotechnological interventions can play a vital role by not only increasing crop productivity but also taking care of the increasing threat of biotic and abiotic stresses on crop plants.

This book is based on four workshops (Stakeholders\' dialogue on agricultural biotechnology: bio safety and economic implications) on genetically modified plants, organized by Teri. It outlines the relevance of plant biotechnology to Indian agriculture and the importance of regulatory and bio safety issues before public acceptance of genetically modified food. It also address the benefits and risks, as well as economic and intellectual property right implications of transgenic research."