Walkout over low yield from Bt cotton by opposition in Madhya Pradesh assembly

New Kerala, 15 Feb 2006
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=10281

Bhopal: Major opposition parties, including Congress today staged a walkout in Madhya Pradesh assembly alleging heavy losses suffered by farmers due to low yield from Bt cotton grown by them and accusing the ruling BJP of promoting multi-national companies.

Raising the issue through a calling attention motion, Samajwadi Party leader Suneelam and Govind Singh and Arif Aqeel of Congress claimed that thousands of farmers in Malwa and Nimar region who grew different varieties of the genetically modified Bt cotton had to incur huge losses.

Demanding compensation to the affected farmers, they claimed that during several tests, Bt cotton seeds have been proved to be a failure as far as germination, productivity, quality and cost effectiveness are concerned.

Farmers, who grew Bt cotton, were facing huge debt burden due failure of crops, they said.

Refuting the allegations levelled by opposition members, Agriculture Minister Chandrabhan Singh said though crops were damaged in some areas due to lack of irrigation facilities, overall production has increased by using Bt cotton seeds.

Following complaints about Bt cotton, the matter was probed and its report sent to the central governmemt, he said.

Unhappy with the Minister's reply, Congress members staged a walkout, while Samajwadi Party and CPI-M MLAs followed them charging the state government of promoting multi-nationals.

The house witnessed noisy scenes when Speaker Ishwardas Rohani informed members about acceptance of the resignation by BJP MLA from Budhni Rajendra Singh.