ABSTRACT
Debates over the risks and benefi ts of genetically engineered (GE) crops have had important implications for their use in India. The promotion of GE crops as a tool for farmers resembles classic development initiatives, with proponents, including the government of India, steadfast in their confi dence for a (bio)technological solution for marginal producers facing declining yields, growing costs of production, and ‘onrushing’ conditions of poverty (Jansen and Gupta, 2009). The country also has a vibrant history of public debate over its agricultural and economic development led by a robust civil society critiquing those initiatives that promise to improve the environment and living conditions of the poor. This chapter looks to India’s English language oppositional narratives regarding GE agriculture – as gauged by interviews with civil society groups, their own publications, and media coverage – to examine how the GE controversy in that country has evolved and why. Our analysis extends from the commercialization of GE crops, contrasting the approval of GE cotton in 2002 and its current widespread use, against the more recent moratorium for GE brinjal (or, eggplant) in 2010. The disparity in these cases provides a useful vantage point by which to assess anti-GE risk narratives in public debate. We look to social theory regarding risk and narrative in order to interpret civil society’s stance against India’s GE crops and regulatory regime.
