There are arguments galore - ranging from the advent of a possible second Green Revolution, to elimination of species and marginalisation of farmers to multinationals like Monsanto and Novartis.

Leading the bandwagon of those in favour of the "most revolutionary development in the history of agriculture" are stalwarts like the Director General of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Dr RA Mashelkar, who calls it the "only tool in hand" to feed a world population of 10 billion by the year 2050.

While the view gets patronage from none other than Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his government, there are serious reservations among scientists who accuse the protagonists of GM crops, of "serving the interest of the government and the multinationals".

Among the numerous pitfalls of the new technologies, as recorded by the Centre for Inter-disciplinary Studies (CIS), Barrackpore, is elimination of species, health problems and growth of antibiotic resistance in human body, growth of 'super weeds' and birth of pesticide-resistant insect pests. The Research Foundation for Science, Technology (RFSTE), collected samples of corn-soya blend distributed by the US government as aid to the cyclone victims, and tests by US based Genetic ID, the world's leading laboratory for GE food testing, showed that the products were rejects by consumers in the North, especially Europe. Apart from ethical questions, Dr Debal Deb of CIS, expresses concern at the possibility of traditional crops being affected by contact with GM crops.

"Insects can carry pollens across 30 kilometres. Yet,in field trials with GM crops, a gap of only 50 metres is described to be safe distance...pressure from different biotech lobbies coerce our policy makers to compromise both science and common sense," he alleges. In similar vein, Dr Ashis K Ghosh of ENDEV Society for Environment and Development, Calcutta, says "In our attempt to go in for transgenic crops, we ignore other varieties. It will lead to extinction of a large variety of traditional crops, as was evident after the Green Revolution."

While there were 42,000 varieties of rice in India before the Green Revolution, only a few hundred could be traced now, says Dr Deb.However, Dr SK Sen of Indian Institute of Technology ,Kharagpur, argues that, "If we have a golden rice (a transgenic variety), it does not mean we will eliminate all other varieties." There are risks of gene escaping out to environment, says Dr Bansal of Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IASI), New Delhi, commenting on the potential threat to other crops and environment, adding quickly "but the risk of ignoring biotechnology is far too great".

As was put by Nobel Prize winner and the father of Green Revolution Norman Borlaug and supported by many scientists "Deny farmers access to modern technology and the world will be doomed...from starvation and social and political chaos."

By 2020, India would need more than 250 million tonne of foodgrains and given the GR fatigue, low productivity and limited land and water, development of transgenic crops is the only tool in hand to feed the teeming population, Mr Bansal says. IARI, under Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), is developing transgenic varieties of potato, tomato, brinjals, cabbage, mustard, pulses, cereals and banana.

ICAR research is also underway on crops like vegetables, rice, tobacco, wheat, sorghum to develop varieties resistant to salinitity, drought and pests and insects. Another argument in favour of the new technology is that it will make the Indian farmer competitive with cheaper food imports in future.

Dr Partha R Dasgupta, regulatory head of Novartis India Ltd, has urged the government for quick approval of commercial exploitation of transgenic varieties like Bt Cotton and others "for the interest of the nation and its farming community."