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Biotechnology in Indian Agriculture: Potential, Performance and Concerns, N. Chandrasekhara Rao and S. Mahendra Dev, Academic Foundation, New Delhi in collaboration with Centre for Economic and Social Studies, Hyderabad, 2010. Pp 198. Rs.695.00.
Over the last fifteen years, agricultural biotechnology has been adopted rapidly at the global level, including in several developing countries. This trend has been most apparent for Genetically Modified (GM) crops. One estimate puts the area under biotech crops increased from 1.7 million hectares in 1996 to 160 million hectares in 2011 and the number of countries growing biotech crops has increased from 6 in 1996, the first year of commercialisation, to 29 in 2011. Introduction of Bt cotton in India like in many other countries led to an intense scientific debate and public controversy surrounding yield advantage, multinational control of seeds, human health, environmental risk and ethics. This book is an effort to understand the impact of this technology in Indian agriculture mainly through two field surveys conducted in the cotton farms in four districts of Andhra Pradesh in 2004-05 and in 2006-07.
The book is organised into nine parts and the first section discusses...