What do you get when you put together kilos of brinjal, a gathering of hundreds of citizens and the voices of over 100,000 people who have signed a petition to stop the Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) bill? You get the World’s Biggest GM FREE Baingan Bharta!
Greenpeace, along with the citizens of India residing in Delhi, is trying to make a world record by cooking the World’s Biggest Baingan Bharta. This will be a fun and exciting event for the public to be a part of, but the message we want to send out to our government is very serious.
As concerned citizens we have a right to say NO and we say NO to GM foods. Genetic Modification (GM) is a risky technology that is not safe for our food, farming and the environment. The BRAI bill that the government plans to table in the current session of Parliament threatens our right and choice to safe food by lowering the bar for the approval of GM crops. Our message to the Prime Minister on the day will also be to STOP THE BRAI BILL!
The biggest baingan bharta will clearly be GM free as this is also a celebration of the indefinite moratorium on Bt brinjal (which would have been India’s first commercialised GM food crop) and also a strong message that we want brinjal and all the other vegetables to be GM free. Exactly what the BRAI bill does not guarantee.
The bharta will be distributed to various orphanages and organisations which work with the hungry and needy in Delhi. We also hope to include our Honourable Prime Minister in this feast by delivering a plate of Bhaigan Bharta to his residence after the event with a message, “If the BRAI bill is on, this will be the last GM free Baingan Bharta you will eat.”
In the last few weeks Greenpeace has been mobilising many groups and individuals on the issue of GM foods and the BRAI bill in Delhi. The response has been outstanding as the public cares about what they eat and are aware of the dangers of GM technology despite the lies being spun by the biotech industries.
We have built an alliance of people in Delhi from different backgrounds and they are going to be present at this record breaking baingan bharta event showing their support and hopefully cooking their own pot of baingan bharta.
Join us at Dilli Haat on the 6th of September from 11:00 am to 1:00pm if you are in Delhi and add to the strength of people already present. If you are not in Delhi, you can always add your voice by signing on to the petition.
The World’s Biggest GM Free Baigan Bharta represents the public opposition to the BRAI bill and GM foods in India. I am not sure if we will see many more record breaking bhartas around the country but we do know that this is the start of a larger movement to keep our food and farming safe from GM technology.