“People have a right to say ‘no’ to GM food and that’s exactly what they have done today. We hope that government would take notice of the voices of its citizens and stop the introduction of BRAI which would become a non-transparent, autocratic body which will lower the bar for the GM crop approvals,” said Kapil Mishra, Sustainable Agriculture campaigner with Greenpeace India. He further stated, “Bt brinjal, the first GM food crop that came up for commercialisation, was put under an indefinite moratorium last year due to opposition by scientists, farmers, consumers, political parties, as well as environmentalists. Brinjal has thus become a national symbol when it comes to the opposition to GM crops and this event only resonates that cause.”
A team of chefs from Le Meridien, New Delhi and Indian Culinary Forum lead the cooking of about 342.5kgs of baingan ka bharta, which has been certified as a world record by the Limca Book of Records. A portion of the bharta along with more than 100,000 petitions was handed over to the PMO by a delegation of citizens.
Davinder Kumar, Executive Chef and V.P of FnB Le Meridien and the president of Indian Culinary Forum leading the cooking of the world record bharta said, “At Le Meridien we believe in doing whatever we can to ensure safe food and a sustainable environment. We are happy that we could do our bit by joining this people's movement for safe food.”
The event at Dilli haat also saw a beeline of celebrities joining this public resistance to GM food. Speaking at the occasion Rocky Singh, of the popular TV food show 'Highway on My Plate' echoed the sentiment of all those gathered there and stated, “Today the humble baingan ka bharta has become a symbol of our fight for safe food.”
The bharta was made completely out of organic ingredients sourced from different organic food stores in New Delhi to send a message that there are sustainable alternatives that need promotion and support of the government instead of risky technologies like GM crops.
Rashmi Gupta, a Delhiite and one of the 100,000 petition signers, attended the event to defend her right to say no. “I will not compromise on my family’s health because of such unethical regulations passed by our government and that is the reason why I am here participating in this event. I strongly believe that healthy eating is healthy living and GM food is a threat to it.”
The gathering urged the government not to table the proposed BRAI bill but to come up with a biosafety protection legislation that will protect and enhance biosafety and ensure democratic processes are adhered to when dealing with issues as important as food and farming in our country.
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Notes to the editor
- link to Greenpeace critique of BRAI
http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/report/brai%20%20critique.pdf
- link to BRAI bill
http://www.prsindia.org/uploads/media/Biotech/Biotech%20Regulatory%20Auhority%20Bill,%202011.pdf
For more information
Kapil Mishra, Sustainable Agriculture Campaign, Greenpeace India - Mob: 9818066041, email: 
Pari Trivedi, Media officer, Greenpeace India - Mob: 07503893981, email: 