India likely to approve GM food crops

Indian Environment Minister Veerappa Moily is expected to cast his vote in favour of allowing genetically modified (GM) food crops in the country, overturning the position of his immediate predecessors - Jayanthi Natarajan and Jairam Ramesh.

Moily's support will pave the way for the government to submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court acquiescing to field trials of GM food crops on a conditional basis. The apex court is hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on the issue and the Prime Minister's Office as well as the agriculture ministry have pushed hard to submit such an affidavit, but were unable to do so because of resistance from Natarajan. Her opposition to field trials has been cited recently as one of the reasons for her departure from the Cabinet.