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New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) The Coalition for a GM-Free India on Thursday accused the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Ministry of Agriculture of perpetrating a “scientific fraud” in the promotion of genome-edited rice varieties, alleging that official trial data has been rigged to manufacture false claims of success. At a press conference, the coalition presented data from ICAR’s Annual Progress Reports (2023 and 2024) of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Rice (AICRPR), claiming the findings expose a pattern of scientific manipulation where ICAR’s conclusions directly contradict its own data. The allegations centre on two genome-edited rice varieties — Pusa DST-1 and DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala) — which were announced by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on May 4, 2025, as a global first. “As has become the habit with biotech lobbies in the country, seen earlier with BT brinjal and GM mustard, science is yet again being compromised to push some genome-edited varieties as miracle seeds for India,” the coalition said in a statement. Pusa DST-1 (IET 32043) was claimed to outperform its non-GM parent MTU-1010 under saline and alkaline soils. DRR Dhan 100 ‘Kamala’ (IET 32072), derived from BPT 5204, was declared to yield 17 per cent higher, mature 20 days earlier, and use nitrogen more efficiently. However, according to ICAR’s own reports cited by the Coalition, Pusa DST-1 showed no testing data for claimed drought or salinity tolerance in 2023 due to “limited seed quantity”. In 2023 trials, it showed at-par or 4.8 per cent lower yield compared to parent MTU-1010, and underperformed in 12 of 20 sites. In 2024, the variety showed no yield advantage in coastal or inland salinity trials, with only a 1.6 per cent marginal gain in alkaline soils. Yet, the summary table claims “30 per cent higher yield” — selectively drawing on results from just eight locations in one zone, the Coalition alleged. For DRR Dhan 100 ‘Kamala’, the Coalition claimed that in 2023, the variety underperformed in eight of 19 trial sites and performed significantly worse than its parent in two zones (eastern and central). In the Southern Zone, the yield gain was only 4.3 per cent. In 2024, data from several sites was excluded without explanation, and results from just six sites were used to project a 17.21 per cent yield advantage, the Coalition said. The overall mean yield was 4 per cent lower than the parent variety, and no published field data supports the claim of “20 days earlier maturity”, according to the Coalition’s analysis. On days for 50 per cent flowering (DFF), the annual reports do not contain data showing a 20-day difference between Kamala and parent, the Coalition said. Overall mean DFF for Kamala is 101 days and for BPT 5204 it is 104 days. “If the technology being used is truly safe, precise and effective, there should be no hesitation in putting out all data and conducting proper testing, as is done for all GMOs,” said Soumik Banerjee, independent researcher. Kavitha Kuruganti, activist and Coalition member, said, “Doing bad science in agriculture, that too from the public sector, has a direct bearing on the lives and livelihoods of millions of farmers. It is not to be taken lightly — this becomes a matter of fundamental human rights.” The Coalition has demanded immediate withdrawal of all promotional claims about genome-edited rice varieties, an independent scientific review of ICAR’s trial data and methodology, public accountability of ICAR and the Ministry of Agriculture, and a moratorium on genome-edited crop releases until credible biosafety regulations are in place. ICAR officials could not be reached for comment. PTI LUX TRB
