Ballu And Uday

Ballu and uday: 16min, 29 sec, Hindi with English subtitles, © Greenpeace 2008.

Uday is a humble farmer who loved his goat Balwinder. In the pleasant story came a terrifying interlude- Bt cotton.  Uday had attended one of the luring company meetings that happened in his village and fell for the claims of the company selling Bt cotton seeds. What is the harm in trying? He said to himself. “Let me try it once and see if these are as good as they claim” - he sowed Bt cotton. The season was over and the harvest was lesser than usual but some thing unusual happened. His beloved Ballu was lying dead one fine morning. Just the last night, he fed ballu “high quality Bt cotton leaves and stalks” as he has thought.  But it had killed him. Or was it? 

Watch the movie to know the various interests at play in the business of genetically engineered crops in India.

This film is based on the real incidents that happened during the 2006- 2007 at various districts of Andhra Pradesh.

GE or genetic engineering is a potentially dangerous technology that has not been proved to be safe for human consumption. This technology involves mixing of genes from unrelated organisms, to produce a new organism with novel characteristics. The safety of food produced out of genetic engineered crops is not thoroughly evaluated yet. Because of the ability to grow, reproduce and multiply uncontrollably, GE crops are seen as a great threat to biodiversity and agriculture.

Different people have different views on the incident.

“Bt cotton killed goats? Are you out of your mind?” Ask the scientists at the Genetic engineering approval committee who approved it in 2002.

“1500 goats and more than 200 buffaloes die after consuming Bt cotton in Warangal district”. The media screams.

The sheep and goat herders are up in arms about the loss of their livelihoods.

What in Bt cotton killed the goats? It remains one of the deep shrouded secrets of GE crops.