First Principles IAS · Current affairs
The monthly magazine, October 2026 · Science and Technology › Agricultural and food biotechnology
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Up to 30 per cent of India's cotton grows unapproved herbicide tolerant GM hybrids
LeadPrelims and Mains31 Oct 2026
Why in news
- In October 2026 a field study for the Federation of Seed Industry of India and the National Seed Association of India found that 24 to 30 per cent of India's cotton area grows hybrids carrying genes that no regulator has approved.
- The study puts the illegal seed market at ₹820 to 880 crore a year.
Background
- Bt cotton carries genes from the soil bacterium _Bacillus thuringiensis_. The genes make proteins that kill bollworm larvae, the crop's main pest. India approved it in 2002. Bt cotton now covers almost the whole cotton area.
India has approved only two Bt genes in cotton, cry1Ac and cry2Ab, both against bollworms
- Since clearing the second Bt gene in 2006, the regulator has approved no other transgenic trait in any crop
- One exception: a conditional clearance of GM mustard in 2022, now in litigation
- The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, under the Environment Ministry, clears genetically modified crops for trials and release under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
- Glyphosate kills any green plant it touches, which rules out spraying it on an ordinary cotton field. A cotton plant with a tolerance gene survives the spray. The weeds die.
What the illegal seed carries
- The unapproved hybrids carry cp4-epsps, which makes the plant tolerant to glyphosate, and Vip3A, a Bt gene that controls a wider range of bollworm larvae than cry1Ac and cry2Ab.
- A seed company applied for approval of the herbicide tolerant trait in the 2000s and withdrew in 2016. The trait never cleared the biosafety process. The seed spread anyway, through informal channels.
- The study measured the genes in samples from nearly 1,000 farmers in the main cotton growing States. The two genes turned up in a majority of field samples.
Why farmers buy it
- Labour: glyphosate sprays cost a small fraction of hand weeding. Where farm labour is scarce, the herbicide tolerant seed pays for itself in one season.
- Resistance: the pink bollworm has grown resistant to the first generation Bt proteins, and farmers see Vip3A seed as a way back to control.
Analysis
The regulator has fallen behind the field.
- When up to a third of the crop grows seed the law forbids, the law no longer decides what Indian farmers plant
- The choice has passed to an informal seed trade with no biosafety data and no quality control
Illegal seed is a biosafety gap, not only a legal one.
- Farmers now spray glyphosate on up to a third of the cotton area with no label, no training and no monitoring
- Spraying on that scale is the exact outcome a regulatory process exists to study before release
Resistance management collapses without regulation.
- Approved Bt seed came with refuge rules to slow resistance
- Illegal Vip3A seed comes with none, so the newer protein may lose its value as fast as the older ones did
Prohibition without an alternative fails.
- Farmers want weed control and bollworm control
- Years without a decision on any new trait have left them with a choice between a failing legal product and a working illegal one
The way forward
- Invite applications for the herbicide tolerant and Vip3A traits and decide them on their biosafety evidence, one way or the other, within a fixed time.
- Enforce seed quality at the point of sale, with testing of seed lots and penalties on sellers. The farmer who buys cannot tell the genes apart.
Exam lens
- Prelims:
- Approved Bt genes in cotton: cry1Ac and cry2Ab, from Bacillus thuringiensis. Unapproved: cp4-epsps (glyphosate tolerance) and Vip3A
- Bt cotton approved in 2002, India's only approved GM crop in cultivation
- The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee under the Environment Ministry, under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
- 24 to 30 per cent of about 115 lakh hectares under unapproved hybrids
- Mains: Illegal herbicide tolerant cotton now covers up to a third of India's cotton area. What does this say about the regulation of genetically modified crops, and what should the government do?
Asked before: Prelims 2018 · Mains 2019 GS3 · Prelims 2019
Show the questions
- Prelims 2018: With reference to the Genetically Modified mustard (GM mustard) developed in India, consider the following statements : 1. GM mustard has the genes of a soil bacterium that give the plant the property of pest-resistance to a wide variety of pests. 2. GM mustard has the genes that allow the plant cross-pollination and hybridization. 3. GM mustard has been developed jointly by the IARI and Punjab Agricultural University. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?
- Mains 2019 GS3: How can biotechnology help to improve the living standards of farmers?
- Prelims 2019: Consider the following statements: 1. According to the Indian Patents Act, a biological process to create a seed can be patented in India. 2. In India, there is no Intellectual Property Appellate Board. 3. Plant varieties are not eligible to be patented in India. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Connects to
- Genome edited crops: India's rule and the European law (Science and Technology, July): the lighter route India gives gene editing, which the illegal trade bypasses altogether.
- Pioxaniliprole, the first insecticide molecule discovered in India, is approved (Science and Technology, October): the regulated route for a new crop protection product.
- Punjab's paddy area nears a record as cotton falls and the High Court lifts the hybrid ban (Economy, June): cotton's retreat in the north and the hybrid seed question in the courts.
Sources
- The Indian Express, 8 October 2026
Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.
Filed under: Agricultural and food biotechnology · The monthly magazine, October 2026