Even more serious was that only PAU/Punjab Government issued NOC among 11 states that Bayer applied for clearance
The Coalition for a GM-Free India has raised strong objections to issuance of no objection certificates by the Punjab Government for conducting confined field trials of two kinds of GM maize of Bayer (earlier Monsanto) in PAU, Ludhiana. “It needs to be ascertained whether the NOC has been issued by the state government with the full knowledge of the political leadership in the state or not,” said Kavitha Kuruganti, Co-Convenor of the Coalition for a GM-Free India, in a letter to the Union Agriculture Ministry
Stating that “this one NOC of Punjab will cause a national repercussion given that the results from just one or two locations will be shown for an application by Bayer for commercial cultivation permission to these unsafe GM crops, as has happened in the past with HT mustard,” she urged the state government to institute an inquiry on scientific basis of such NOCs and immediately withdraw them.
Even more serious was that only the PAU/Punjab Government issued NOC among 11 states that Bayer applied for clearance, she added.
“Punjab, more than any other state, has to be extremely cautious about hazardous technologies like HT and Bt GM technologies, given that they actually increase the usage of deadly agro-chemicals which impact both farmers and consumers.
“Given the acute environmental health crisis in Punjab, any use of more chemicals will be disastrous for the state,” she said
According to the letter quoting minutes of the 155th meeting of the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (dated June 9, 2025) available online, “Bayer, a notorious MNC known for its toxic products, has obtained a NOC from Punjab Government for GM maize trials”
“Bayer (earlier, Monsanto) applied for penultimate stage trials for HT Maize (Event called NK603) and insect tolerant Bt Maize (Event called Event MON8903) in multiple locations of eleven states, including Haryana, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.
“PAU Ludhiana is the only one which seemed to have responded positively. Against this backdrop, Punjab Government /PAU have to show what is the additional safety information that they hold than any other state,” she said, also raising questions on PAU’s track record on conducting “confined” field trials in compliance of the statutory guidelines meant for such trials and called it “poor.”
“In the past, civil society groups have shown with photographic evidence such violations, with regard to HT Mustard trial, no action had been taken to fix liability for such violations, however,” she added
The coalition also questioned how PAU can experiment with herbicide-tolerant maize that has been modified to withstand the application of glyphosate, which is against the legally-approved label claim for glyphosate in India’s pesticides regulatory regime. “Glyphosate was a deadly herbicide with a large body of scientific literature pointing to its negative impacts on human health and environment. In fact, the Punjab government had issued prohibitory orders on the use of glyphosate in the state, given that the Union Government was not acting in the interests of ordinary citizens,” it added.
