RSS-affiliated farmer body seeks denotification of Bt cotton seeds

Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an RSS-affiliated farmers' and economic nationalist organisation, has formally demanded the denotification (withdrawal of approv...

What Happened

Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), an RSS-affiliated farmers' and economic nationalist organisation, has formally demanded the denotification (withdrawal of approval) of Bt cotton seeds in India.
The demand comes at a strategically significant moment: the US Trade Representative is visiting India for ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations, where GM crop market access is one of the most contentious sticking points.
The US has consistently pushed India to open its agricultural market to GM crops — including herbicide-tolerant varieties of soybean, corn, and canola — as part of broader FTA and trade normalisation talks.
India's regulatory stance (restricting commercial GM crop cultivation to Bt cotton alone since 2002) has been a recurring source of friction in bilateral trade discussions.
The Bt cotton denotification demand, if acted upon, would remove the only currently approved GM crop from commercial cultivation — a move sharply opposed by sections of the cotton industry, seed companies, and state governments in cotton-growing regions.

Static Topic Bridges

GEAC — India's GM Crop Regulatory Authority

The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) is the apex statutory body for evaluating and approving the commercial release of genetically modified (GM) organisms in India. It functions under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).

GEAC was constituted under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Rules for Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganisms/Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells, 1989 (also known as the EPA Rules 1989 or the Hazardous Microorganisms Rules).
The name was changed from "Genetic Engineering Approval Committee" to "Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee" in 2010, reflecting the shift from administrative approval to technical evaluation.
Composition: co-chaired by a representative of MoEFCC and the Department of Biotechnology (DBT); members include scientists, domain experts, and civil society representatives.
In 2026, the Union government amended the GEAC expert-member rules to require mandatory disclosure of conflicts of interest and recusal from relevant discussions.
Final commercial release decisions rest with the GEAC, but state governments must consent before cultivation in their territory.

Connection to this news: Any denotification of Bt cotton would require a reversal of GEAC's 2002 commercial approval — a regulatory action that would require either a fresh GEAC process or a legislative/executive override of the EPA Rules 1989 framework.

Bt Cotton — India's Only Approved GM Crop

Bollgard Bt cotton, developed by Monsanto (in collaboration with Mahyco — Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company), was approved by GEAC for commercial cultivation on March 26, 2002 — making India one of the major adopters of GM crop technology at the time.

Bt cotton carries a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) that produces an insecticidal protein (Cry protein) toxic to the bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera), the primary pest of cotton in India.
Initial approval was for three cotton hybrids (Bt Mech 12, Bt Mech 162, Bt Mech 184) in central and southern India, for three years (April 2002–March 2005), later expanded and extended.
Adoption rate: By FY25, Bt cotton covers approximately 11–12 million hectares, representing over 95% of India's total cotton area.
India is the world's largest cotton producer, and Bt cotton's adoption is credited with a dramatic reduction in pesticide use on cotton in the early 2000s.
No other GM crop has received commercial cultivation approval in India. GM mustard (Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11, developed by Delhi University) received GEAC approval in October 2022 but remains under regulatory review; Bt brinjal received GEAC approval in 2010 but the government placed a moratorium on its release.
The first approval was made under MoEFCC's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee — under the Environment Protection Act 1986 and Rules, 1989.

Connection to this news: The SJM's denotification demand targets the foundational 2002 GEAC approval — arguing that Bt cotton's patent-embedded seed costs have kept farmers trapped in a monopoly technology. Denotification would remove the legal basis for Bt seed production and sale, reverting India to non-GM cotton cultivation.

GM Crops and the India-US Trade Fault Line

The United States is the world's largest commercial cultivator of GM crops, with soybeans, corn, cotton, and canola nearly entirely GM. The US Trade Representative has consistently raised India's GM crop restrictions as a non-tariff barrier (NTB) in bilateral trade negotiations.

The US argues that India's GM crop restrictions — rooted in the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (ratified by India in 2003) and the precautionary principle — constitute market access barriers inconsistent with WTO rules on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures (WTO SPS Agreement, 1994).
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000): supplementary to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD, 1992), it governs transboundary movement of Living Modified Organisms (LMOs) and allows parties to invoke the precautionary approach even in the absence of scientific certainty on environmental risk.
India's position: The precautionary principle is embedded in its GM crop approval process, and approvals are subject to a case-by-case scientific review — India has not categorically banned GM food/feed imports but restricts commercial cultivation.
In the context of India-US trade talks (including the current negotiations), the US has sought: (a) expedited science-based GM crop approvals; (b) import clearance for GM commodity shipments (soybeans, corn, canola) without cargo-by-cargo GM content testing.
India's import data shows the country already imports GM soybean oil and GM-derived products indirectly; the friction is more acute for whole GM grain imports and domestic cultivation.

Connection to this news: The SJM's denotification demand — framed as farmer protection and technological sovereignty — is the domestic counterpoint to US trade pressure. The timing of the demand coinciding with the USTR visit highlights how domestic regulatory politics intersect with international trade negotiation positions.

TRIPS Agreement and Seed Patents

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), a WTO agreement in force from 1995, requires all WTO members to provide patent protection for microorganisms and biological processes that are not essentially biological. Under TRIPS Article 27.3(b), members must protect plant varieties either through patents or through an effective sui generis system.

India complies with TRIPS through the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001 — a sui generis law that protects breeders' rights while explicitly recognising farmers' rights to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, and sell farm-saved seeds (except under a breeder's denomination).
PPV&FR Act, 2001 is administered by the Plant Variety Protection and Farmers' Rights Authority (PPVFRA) under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
Monsanto's Bt cotton technology is protected under both the Patents Act, 1970 (process/product patent for the Cry gene insertion) and sub-licence agreements with Indian seed companies.
The trait value/technology fee charged by Monsanto (now Bayer CropScience) for Bt cotton seeds has been a major source of farmer grievance and litigation; the government has periodically capped trait fees under the Seeds Act, 1966 and Essential Commodities Act.
India does not allow product patents on plants or animals under Section 3(j) of the Patents Act, 1970 — but the Bt gene insertion (a microbiological process) has been a grey area in Indian patent jurisprudence.

Connection to this news: The denotification demand is partly framed around the argument that Bt cotton's patented technology has created seed dependence on a foreign corporation (Monsanto/Bayer), transferring rents out of India's agricultural economy — a concern that intersects with TRIPS flexibilities and India's sui generis farmers' rights framework.

Key Facts & Data

Bt cotton commercial approval in India: GEAC, March 26, 2002 (for Bt Mech 12, 162, 184 hybrids)
Initial approval validity: 3 years (April 2002–March 2005); subsequently extended
Bt cotton area coverage in India: ~11–12 million hectares; over 95% of total cotton area
Only GM crop approved for commercial cultivation in India: Bt cotton (Bollgard)
GM mustard (DMH-11): GEAC-approved October 2022; yet to be commercially released
Bt brinjal: GEAC-approved 2010; government moratorium in force since 2010
GEAC established under: Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 + EPA Rules, 1989
Name change from "Approval" to "Appraisal" Committee: 2010
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety: adopted 2000, in force 2003; India ratified 2003
PPV&FR Act, 2001: India's TRIPS-compliant sui generis plant variety protection law
Patents Act, 1970, Section 3(j): prohibits patents on plants, animals, essentially biological processes
WTO SPS Agreement (1994): governs sanitary/phytosanitary measures in trade
India's current stand: no comprehensive ban on GM imports; restriction on commercial cultivation