Govind Gujar: entomologist's journey to understand the Society we live in

    May 2022 Just some years ago, I visited the seed company in Aurangabad and was surprised to know that they are developing GM crops. I felt a bit odd that there were hardly any visible signs on revival of this technology by the Government. Yet, I popped up to sound optimistic of their move and hoped that the Government will play all along. Later, I learnt that many state Governments did not give no-objection certificate to carry out open field trials as per regulatory needs. And hence, field testing of the GM crops had come to standstill. Biotech activities have come to standstill after a moratorium on the development of GM crops by the then Minister of Environment and Forests, Mr Jairam Ramesh in 2010. And these have been sparingly and half-heartedly done for the last more than 10 years. This May, Asia Pacific Seed Association (APSA) organised the Asian Solanaceous Crops Roundtable conference from 11 th to 13 th and had many sessions ranging from breeding to biotechnology

   13 June 2022 U Pesticide myths explained Some time back, I wrote about myths about pesticides. The pesticide industry has done exceptionally well in this country and has contributed to the food security significantly. It ranks 4 th or 5 th in the world in terms of its turnover. Often, pesticides are criticised for their harmful effects and are often in news. I am further elucidating myths about the pesticides and to some extent pesticide industry. These were discussed by CCFI vide ICN Bureau 13 April 2022. I have answered them in my own style. Please refer to the above article for comparison. Myth: Indian farmers use excessive Pesticides Me: It is not true that Indian farmers use excessive pesticide per unit area of crop or per unit of produce on the basis of average of all. But what kind of pesticides do they use quantitatively and how much on different crops in different localities is the important point. Myth: Agriculture commodities in India carry high level pesticid

 2 June 2022   Some time back, I wrote about Mrs Savitribai Phule, a pioneer in girls’ education in the 19 th century ably supported by her husband Mahatma Jyotiba Phule who contributed to the social cause in the Indian society, especially in Maharashtra. Since then, education has been a power engine in every family that propelled socio-economic as well as cultural conditions of the society. Girls’ education is no longer a taboo in every religion, every caste and every strata of the society. The Government too encouraged a lot with free education as well as other facilities. It is said that if you educate a son, you educate an individual. If you educate a daughter, you educate the whole family. So, it was a matter of pride as our daughters passed with flying colours every course they aspired. And this has helped in their employment in every sector including military. Of the services, the Civil Services are the considered top echelon in the Indian society as the successful candi

  photo credit: freelancer.com 2 June 2022 After exciting air travel, the first to confront in the new country is custom officer who decides your entry. Most custom officers are gentlemen and ladies doing their jobs sincerely and with patience and hard work. And over the years, they have improved a lot in terms of interacting with the visitors. But a lot needs to be done. Often, they or their Governments act like the bosses in the Bollywood films to decide what is right or wrong. And in these days of Covid-19 pandemic, they are the ones who decide as how to check the Covid carriers. So, after some weeks of planning and preparation for travel to Egypt, we finally left for Cairo via Abu Dhabi in October 2021. The emigration was just fine, but a night flight meant remaining awake with little scope of refreshing sleep. On arrival at noon at Cairo airport, we were detained by the custom officials for Covid testing, as they collected our passports. At the same time, those joining our fli