{"id":86416,"date":"2026-10-08T18:19:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T12:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=86416"},"modified":"2026-10-08T18:19:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T12:49:21","slug":"htbt-cotton-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/08-10-2026\/htbt-cotton-india","title":{"rendered":"Illegal Herbicide-tolerant Bt Cotton Expands Across India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/Agriculture<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India has not approved <strong>herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBt) cotton,<\/strong> still farmers appear to be adopting it at scale.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A new field study was conducted by the <strong>South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC)<\/strong> with support from the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) and National Seed Association of India (NSAI).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It estimates that <strong>unauthorised cotton<\/strong> was cultivated on 65-72 lakh acres during the 2025-26 kharif season, accounting for <strong>24-30% of India\u2019s total cotton acreage.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Introduction of BT Cotton in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In 2002, the government approved the <strong>commercial cultivation of Bt cotton <\/strong>as cleared by the<strong> Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC).\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <strong>first Bt hybrids<\/strong> incorporating the<strong> cry1Ac gene<\/strong> were approved to resist the <strong>bollworm complex.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>By 2006, GEAC had approved<strong> Bollgard II, <\/strong>a second-generation hybrid with two stacked genes.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Bt Cotton<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bt cotton<\/strong> has two alien genes from the <strong>soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) <\/strong>that allows the crop to develop a protein toxic to the common pest <strong>pink bollworm.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Till now, it is the<strong> only Genetically Modified (GM) crop that is allowed in India.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>HTBt Cotton<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>HTBt cotton <\/strong>is Bt cotton with an <strong>added herbicide-tolerance trait, <\/strong>allowing farmers to <strong>use glyphosate for weed control.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>HTBt cotton essentially adds <strong>another trait to Bt cotton \u2014 herbicide tolerance.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>HTBt cotton is <strong>not approved for commercial cultivation<\/strong> in India rather than that a blanket scientific finding has declared the <strong>technology inherently unsafe.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns with Use of HTBt Cotton<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Unauthorised cultivation: <\/strong>A major concern is the illegal cultivation, sale and distribution of unapproved HTBt seeds. This bypasses India&#8217;s biosafety regulatory framework and makes it difficult to ensure the quality, safety and traceability of seeds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Excessive herbicide use: <\/strong>Herbicide tolerance can encourage greater dependence on chemical weed control, particularly glyphosate.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Repeated herbicide use may contribute to herbicide-resistant weeds and affect vegetation in and around agricultural fields.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Impact on biodiversity: <\/strong>Broad-spectrum herbicides can eliminate plants that are traditionally regarded as weeds but may also provide fodder, food and habitat for insects and other organisms.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This can reduce agro-biodiversity and affect ecological interactions in farming landscapes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Development of resistance: <\/strong>Over-reliance on a particular herbicide or Bt-based pest-control technology can create selection pressure, potentially encouraging the emergence of resistant weeds or insect pests.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why are Farmers using it Despite the Ban?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>For many cotton farmers, <strong>HTBt technology is primarily a weed-management technology.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Labour shortages and the rising cost of manual weeding<\/strong> have made conventional weed control increasingly expensive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The latest FSII-NSAI-backed study estimates that <strong>two-three glyphosate applications can cost about Rs 750-850 per acre, <\/strong>compared with Rs 12,000-15,000 for manual weeding.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>For farmers, therefore, the attraction is not necessarily the GM label but the <strong>possibility of reducing labour dependence and controlling weeds more cheaply.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Regulatory Framework<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Under India\u2019s regulatory framework, environmental release of GM crops requires clearance from the<strong> Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) <\/strong>under the <strong>Environment (Protection) Act framework and the 1989 rules<\/strong> governing genetically engineered organisms.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bt cotton is the only GM crop cleared<\/strong> for commercial cultivation. Consequently, cultivation, production or sale of <strong>unapproved GM cotton is unauthorised.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The debate is increasingly shifting from \u201cban versus allow\u201d to \u201c<strong>whether and how India should regulate a technology that is already being used.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The bigger issue for India\u2019s cotton sector, therefore, is no longer merely the legality of HTBt cotton. It is whether the country can close the <strong>widening gap between agricultural regulation and what farmers are actually planting in their fields.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: IE<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">India has not approved herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBt) cotton, still farmers appear to be adopting it at scale.  <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> About <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> \u00a0A new field study was conducted by the South Asia Biotechnology Centre (SABC) with support from the Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) and National Seed Association of India (NSAI). <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It estimates that unauthorised cotton was cultivated on 65-72 lakh acres during the 2025-26 kharif season, accounting for 24-30% of India\u2019s total cotton acreage.\u00a0  <\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/08-10-2026\/htbt-cotton-india\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86416"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86419,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86416\/revisions\/86419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}