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New Delhi: Minister of State, Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Tariq Anwar has said that said India is likely to achieve bumper production’ of Kharif crops including rice this season due to good monsoon. He was addressing a conference organize at an ASSOCHAM in New Delhi.

He further said, “The figures are indicating that sowing operations are in full swing. By and large, rains seem to be good in most parts of the country. If this continues, India will be a major producers in most crops”, said Mr. Anwar while inaugurating a conference on ‘Bio-Agri 2013 Summit,’ organized by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

“I would request the companies to be judicious in pricing of their product. They should always keep in mind that long term interest of the consumer is in their interest too. The matter related to pricing of seeds as it played out in the state of Andhra Pradesh recently is a case in point”, said Mr. Anwar at ASSOCHAM conference.

While addressing Mr. Anwar said, regulations governing GM crops can potentially act at a number of key stages. Regulation related to research and development stage would typically involve conditions under which laboratory experiments take place, testing of the characteristic which the transgene is expected to introduce. Also issue related to ensuring research and development stage, there is no scope for the GM crops affecting Non-GM crops in India, added Minister of state.

“We need to have clearly established protocols and systems through which we can come to definite conclusions about long term safety of GM crops. The scientific community needs to come together to develop systems of procedures through which risk assessment can be done objectively”, mentioned Mr. Anwar.

He further said that the development of GM crops is a time taking exercise which requires tremendous investment and research. It cannot be denied that strong patent regime is important for sustaining required incentive for investment in Biotech Research.

Others who spoke during the ASSOCHAM conference were Dr S Ayyappan, Secretary, DARE & Director General (ICAR), Prof. Deepak Pental, Director, Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants, University of Delhi, Mr Gyanendra Shukla, CEO India Region, Monsanto India, Mr Babu Lal Jain, Chairman, World BPO Forum, India, USA Business Promotion Council and Mr D.S. Rawat, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM.

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