Thursday 23 December 2010

Visions of a dystopian future

Some thoughts on armchair activism.

Let’s sit down with a cup of coffee, shall we. Let’s not talk about anything. Let’s just look around, let the images and words and sounds make their way into our minds. And let’s rise above the noise of it all. What do you feel?

Here’s what I feel. Making my way through the alleys of noise, I find myself being dragged by the sounds of demented television anchors. Loud cacophony of news and views which are more manufactured than the sugary biscuits I munch with the coffee. In this struggle I realize the topic of our discussion is determinants of successful activism and the politics of new technology. And I laugh.

Activism. It’s a loaded word. Let’s google it. Here is what you get. The use of direct, often confrontational action, such as a demonstration or strike, in opposition to or support of a cause.

We will never get far with activism. We don’t need activism in this world. We don’t really have a cause we are fighting for. Or need to fight for. So, if you ask me what are the determinants of successful activism in new media, I’d say, the first step is let’s not talk of activism.

Here’s what I mean.

Have you ever over-eaten? Have you ever let yourself go on that chocolate for instance? How the euphoria that each taste bud feels and each neuron quickly conveys to the brain makes way for the sickly feeling of having overdone it? Dizziness. Nausea.

Now think of our world having over-eaten on the beautiful, delicious thing called profit. It was great in the beginning. Now we are over doing it. Agriculture, mining, industry everything is overdoing, overselling, over consuming the concept of profit.

Of course the dizziness and the nausea is being felt. Every time a Niyamgiri happens, every time a Monsanto tries to control agriculture of a country, you feel sick. It’s not natural.

But there are no villains. I am sure it’s not necessarily what we want, morally, but what we end up with. Profit, like chocolates, or alcohol, or tobacco is an addiction that is amazing in the beginning but eats away the body and the soul eventually.

So, how can you protest march against something we all are a part of? We all want a good life. We all want the luxuries of life. Yes, those who deny the climate change and those who are fighting tooth and nail about the destruction it will bring. We are all the same. We all want a good life.

But we are over doing it. We are getting obese on our concepts and hypnotizing ourselves to believe in them.

Look at the money being spent by oil companies to fund the climate denial lobby. Look at the money Monsanto and other such companies put out to bribe people and governments. Just to propagate what they believe in.

Just like any other addiction. Your mind will convince you to have another one of that drag, that chocolate, that pint. And you will give in.

Will a protest march against your own body help?

Will a protest march against Coal India Limited help when secretly we desire the profits from its oversubscribed issue?

Will a protest march against Vedanta solve anything, when they can buy and sponsor this march. Or just label it as ‘Naxal’ and have the police shoot at you?

The answer is no. Listen to it. It’s sounded alarm bells in your brain.

No to activism.

So how do we fight this then? How do we make that stand for a better world? Here’s my answer: common sense.

Common sense tells us, genetically modified crops cause genetic contamination. Monoculture kills biodiversity. Biodiversity is the key to the future. Hence, Monsanto can go take a hike.

Common sense tells us that the resources are not unlimited. That the destruction caused by mines in ecologically sensitive areas is far more than the profits the mine will bring on the table. Hence, Vedanta can go take aluminum overdose.

But the problem is, common sense isn’t so common these days.

Because we are living in a world where we are being fed on images and words and ideas by a few. How did we let them control what we feel about things? How does a few unintelligent newsreaders feed ideas into our perfectly capable brains? How did we as a nation allow an actor to tell us about the goodness of colas when science proved they had pesticides?

Common sense isn’t common these days, because we ceased to be a democracy. We live in a dictatorship of the market.

Everything is for sale in this country. From our morals to our land to our forests to our agriculture. And most people end up becoming sales agents of The Great Indian Clearance Sale. And those who are not, are classified as activists. A convenient label that takes the ‘common’ away from sense.

But look at the odds. If a Coal India Limited issue is oversubscribed at $3.2 billion, what will a protest march do?

If the most powerful man in the world is selling Monsanto to us, what chances do you and me have to tell people that GM Crops aren’t the way forward?

The truth is, we are staring blankly at an addiction we can’t control. A cancer that will eat its cure first.

So, why fight? Why try to make our lives miserable? Well, hold on to that thought right there.

Let’s talk about chocolates. Again.

How do you convince yourself not to eat so much of it again? Simple, really. You pile up facts about what it can do, you combine it with your experience and there you have it. Temptation vs Facts. Questionable vs Questions.

And in a world where almost all mainstream media is sold out to the companies, what’s your hope to gather facts, start conversations with people who feel that we have had enough of profit. That it is time Bill Gates shut his trap and Monsanto became a museum relic?

The answer is: social media.

The social media revolution is Gandhian by nature. Peaceful, non-violent and very, very effective.

You can force people do follow you by violence, But you can’t convince them, or make them believe. Social media is gentle persuasion. And over time it will turn the tide against the market forces.

But let’s digress and take a quick Chapati break.

The Indian bread that is staple food of a billion people. Rewind to 1857. Indians organized themselves for a fight against the British and till this day the fight continues between historians. Each wanting to outdo the other in putting a label to the revolution. Did I just say revolution? Well, there’s a whole lot which calls it nothing but a sporadic rebellion. Hard to digest. Unlike the amazing little chapatti. Which was used to mobilize people.

Here’s something from the internet http://www.chapatimystery.com/chapatis

The British feared that this news was spreading and the sepoys were mobilizing for a revolt. But how? They suspected that villages across India were using chapatis (flat, round indian bread) to hand-delivered from village to village – especially in Awadh and Bengal – to organize themselves. The secret paper messages were baked inside the chapati, they imagined.

Here’s an excerpt from Homi Bhabha’s essay, “In a Spirit of Calm Violence”, in Gyan Prakash (ed), After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements. Princeton University Press, 2001. pp. 332-336:

It is at the point of the omen’s obscurity, not in the order of the symbol but in the temporal break of the sign that the interrogative che vuoi of agency emerges: What is the vertiginous chapati saying to me? The “indeterminate” circulation of meaning as rumor or conspiracy, with its perverse, psychic affects of panic constitutes the intersubjective realm of revolt and resistance. What kind of agency is constituted in the circulation of the chapati?

It is at the enunciative level that the humble chapati circulates both a panic of knowledge and power. The great spreading fear, more dangerous than anger, is equivocal, circulating wildly on both sides. It spreads beyond the knowledge of ethnic or cultural binarisms and becomes a new, hybrid space of cultural difference in the negotiation of colonial power-relations. Beyond the barracks and the bungalow opens up an antagonistic, ambiguous area of engagement that provides, in a perverse way, a common battleground that gives the Siphai* a tactical advantage.

Give me a chapati and I will astonish the world.

Well, not really, no. The point is people always look for something where they can all connect. A truth which is universal. And that is the only successful determinant of successful – common sense revolution.

Isn’t it what social media is all about? Bringing people to a common place. Letting them have a conversation. Bridging distances. But can it become a vehicle of social change? Or is it just armchair activism?

To me, there is noting called armchair activism. It’s all a move towards achieving that critical mass. If enough people start feeling strongly about something, it will bring in a change. Slowly. But surely. The process is frustrating and painful. But here’s what will happen if more and more people start talking about an issue, and start discussing it. Armchairs or not.

Information will spread

Questions will be asked

More the questions, lesser the lies

Lesser the lies, more the solutions

More the solutions, better things get

I think we are at the stage when people are starting to ask more questions. And lies have less of a breathing space than they ever had. If this isn’t a positive sign, what is?

So can social media and the people overturn the Monsantos and Vedantas of the world? If you really want to know the answer, no.

I have little hope that we can bring about a revolution in our thinking. I think the rot has set in too deep to be curable.

But I wake up and tweet and put links out to the entire world, along with thousands like me. Why? Because I don’t want the history books to be written without the words – ‘we did not want this dystopian future’.

Because I want the luxury of a ‘we tried our best’ sigh. And that luxury is not available at any shopping mall in this or any other country.


Friday 1 October 2010

Was Gandhi right about India?


Click on the image to enlarge and read.

From the pages of our book: An adventure in information.
Time to ask the question and give a real good thought to Gandhian economics and perhaps start looking to it for solutions.

Saturday 17 July 2010

An adventure in information



A 28 page adventure in information. If you'd like to get this Great Indian Sale book, write to greatindiansale@googlemail.com with your address. The first fifty mails will be sent a complimentary copy.

Friday 9 July 2010

Water etc. A visual essay.


There's a lot of things going on with the issue of water, water crisis, bottled water. Are those connected to other things? Placed some facts together, trying to connect the dots. Makes for an interesting read if nothing else. Click on the image to enlarge and read.

Thursday 1 July 2010

Monday 7 June 2010

Darkness at the edge of noon.


A project for the Sambhavna Trust and the International Coalition of Justice for Bhopal: We want as many people in India as possible to send postcards to the Prime Minister of India reminding him that he and others have been blind to the sufferings of the victims of the Union Carbide Tragedy. The worst industrial disaster in the history of mankind.
This is the launch poster, which has postcards attached to it. You can pick a postcard, if you agree with the message, and post it to the PM.
The postcard project will go to schools and colleges and get students to design the postcards. We'll print and sell these postcards to raise funds for the Sambhavna Trust. And get people to post these cards to the PM as well.
December marks the anniversary of the Union Carbide tragedy in Bhopal. This year it will be the 26th year of being blind. We hope that we can open some eyes.

Tell us Prime Minister, did it hurt when they took out your eyes?

They must be gone because things that appal the rest of us, you seem not to see. You are blind to the agonies of 100,000 people who are still sick in Bhopal 25 years after Union Carbide’s gases leaked there.

Blind to report after report recording the presence of pesticides and heavy metals in soil and water, and blood, in wombs, and mother’s milk.

Blind to the children born blind, lame, limbs twisted or missing, deaf-mute, brain-damaged, with cleft-lips, cleft palates, web fingers, cerebral palsy, tumours where should be

eyes – the children of Bhopal. The living children. The stillborn often can’t be recognised as human.

You are blind to the Supreme Court order to provide clean water and the failure of officials to obey it. MP Chief Minister Babulal Gaur said there was no money for clean water, then unveiled a 600 crore plan to beautify Bhopal with ornamental fountains.

Where were you when Bhopali women brought their damaged children to your house? You had them arrested. The policewomen who led them away wept, but your blind eyes did not.

When they came to your office to protest, did you shut your curtains and say to yourself, ‘I am the Prime Minister of India. I do not have to see police kicking and beating children.’

Why are you blind to promises you made after the Bhopalis walked to Delhi in 2006 and 2008? Where is the Empowered Commission on Bhopal? When will you take steps against Dow Chemical, the owner of Union Carbide?

Why are you blind to the note from India’s justice ministry, holding Dow Chemical

liable for contaminating Bhopal? And for paying for a clean-up?

Why are you blind to Dow’s admitted bribery of Indian government officials?

You have proved yourself blind to justice, blind to honour, blind to decency, and to the suffering of the poor whom your high office binds you to protect.

Blind to everything but foreign dollars.

Prime Minister, can we get our eyes removed too? Because it is becoming extremely

difficult to see you ignore the truth and tell us, everything’s ok.

Thursday 6 May 2010

Greenwashing. It's so stupid, it's genius.



Here's the genius at work. Things that BP doesn't want you to know about the oil spill, or things it will get away with:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/7-secrets-bp-doesnt-want_n_563102.html#s87354

Wednesday 7 April 2010

Let's try and get this right. Or left.













“On a map of India, mark the districts in terms of forest wealth - where the rich and dense tree cover is found. Then overlay the water wealth - the sources of streams and rivers. On this, plot the mineral wealth - iron ore, coal, bauxite and all things shiny that make economies rich. Then, mark on this wealth of India, another indicator - districts where the poorest people of our country live. These are also the tribal districts of the country. You will find a complete match. The richest lands are where the poorest live. Now complete this cartography of the country with the colour red. These are the same districts where Naxalites roam, where the government admits it is fighting a battle with its own people, who use the gun to terrorize and kill. Clearly, here is a lesson we need to learn about bad development.” - Sunita Narain

Saturday 3 April 2010

So, whose water problem is it anyway?



(This is an interactive article. The sentences marked in red will lead you to interesting links, videos and resources. Please feel free to use them in the war against the biggest crisis of our times.)

Those of us who buy bottled water without thinking twice should shut up about the water problem. We deserve it. And we deserve what is going to happen in the future. We deserve the water mafia. We deserve corporatisation of water. We deserve the foul smelling water dripping from taps. We deserve to pay a hundred times more for water. With every litre consumed.

Why, you ask.

For if we had questioned that why don’t we get clean water in our taps we would not be here in the first place - throwing our hands in despair while a handful of people hold our water supply to ransom.

Those of us living in cities where monsoon is aplenty deserve to pay hefty sums for water tankers and fill our tanks with worm infested water. We deserve the trickle supply from the municipal corporation.

Why, you ask.

Why indeed the question would come back to us. Why isn’t our building or house equipped with a water harvesting system? Who will come and do it for us? If we don’t know how water harvesting can solve our water problems, whose fault is it? We have access to more information than any other generation of people in any other age. What stops us from googling water harvesting and finding out just how we can benefit from it.

Those of us living in cities where rivers used to run fresh, deserve the gutters these rivers have become. We deserve the Yamuna and the Mithi and the Ganga and the Chambal. Polluted and out of breath.

We deserve the gutters and our complains should end up like bags of degraded plastic thrown in the river at 2000 per second.

Why, you ask.

Why indeed the question will fill our nostrils like stench. Why don’t we come out in numbers and protest. It’s our rivers. If the land mafia would rather they run dry then take the land mafia to task. If the industries would rather they carried effluents and not water, then let the industries know that there are far bigger things than profit.

Fresh water is disappearing fast from the face of this planet. And in India we used to have enough. We wasted it. We are wasting it. Millions of litres every second. There is only one thing we must remember. It’s not government’s water. It’s not municipality’s water. It’s not Coca-Cola’s water. It’s our water. It’s our problem. And we will have to solve it. Unfortunately it will require more than us using 5 litres less water every day. It will require us asking some serious questions. Addressed to ourselves, to begin with.

Further reading:

India’s Imminent Water Crisis

http://www.arlingtoninstitute.org/wbp/global-water-crisis/606

Water Pollution in India

http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/taxonomy/term/28

Monday 29 March 2010

India Hour, anyone?



Let’s switch off the lights

There seems to be nothing left to see here anymore. That the unsustainable mining is destroying the country and its ecology and its people has nothing to do with climate change.

That we are killing people so we can “mine happiness” has nothing to do with climate change.

That the tigers being hunted for Chinese libido has nothing to do with water scarcity has nothing to do with climate change.

That Coca-Cola destroying the groundwater has nothing to do with climate change.

That Monsanto is trying to sell GMOs in the name of climate change has nothing to do with climate change.

That our corrupt government officials are trying to introduce a Biotech Bill which will take away our right to protest, our food security has nothing to do with climate change.

That we are destroying our agriculture and then inviting companies like Monsanto to take over has nothing to do with climate change.

That while in the International Year of Biodiversity we are propagating GMOs which will destroy biodiversity and lead to monoculture has nothing to do with climate change.

That several hundred million villages in India go without electricity every day and that clean coal is being touted as the panacea to cure that problem has nothing to do with climate change.

Let’s switch off the lights.

And let us all feel glad that we did our bit for the environment.

Epilogue

Last heard Gurgaon in Haryana, India celebrated Earth Hour for 14 hours on March 22, 2010

Friday 26 March 2010

The cola side of life



Click on the image to enlarge and read

Our memories are so short. Recently a panel has asked Coke to pay 216 crores in damages to the environment. And people say Coke is being made a scapegoat.
Really?
Did you forget 2003 and 2006 reports of CSE? Have a look at this poster to read what happened in short.
And click here to read what happened then in words of Sunita Narain.
You will also find the detailed report of CSE's findings on their site. Have a look and open an ice cold can of worms. They are delicious.

Monday 1 March 2010

Google Guerrillas





What we did:
We looked for Niyamgiri on Google Maps and found it "belonged" to Vedanta. How ingenious. So we decided to tag the greenwashing. We added a review giving a viewpoint other than the companies' one. Then someone posted the Amnesty International report excerpt there. And then another one joined in. We hope it becomes a movement.

What you can do:
Look around you. Everywhere in the country there are environmental crimes happening. Take pictures, make videos, write, look for information. And tag the places on Google maps. So that when people are searching for the place, they can find out about what's happening.

Simply put: Name and shame the greenwashers.

Here is Niyamgiri on Google Maps: Click here to see the entry made by Vedanta and read the reviews.
Express your opinion.
Go on, tag the greenwashers!

If you tag a place, let us know as well. We would love to see your work.

Friday 12 February 2010

The battle for our country's food security. And how it was won.


A first hand report from the GMO battlefront, India.

For over six months now we have been deeply involved, as ordinary citizens of India in waging a war against the attempts of seed companies like Monsanto to control our food. Add Bill Gates to the mix and you have got a powerful mix of people and companies who will stop at nothing. With the kind of money and political power, it’s next to impossible to stop them.

First the facts: Patented gene technologies will not help small farmers survive climate change, but they will concentrate corporate power, drive up costs, inhibit public sector research and further undermine the rights of farmers to save and exchange seeds.

http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/10558-the-worlds-top-ten-seed-companies-who-owns-nature

Background: Bt Cotton

Armed with the growing power and a 26% share in Mahyco, it’s Indian counterpart, Monsanto unleashed Bt Cotton in India. PR, News and other media bought off, people started hearing how Bt cotton has been successful and made for amazing yields.
Till farmers started committing suicide. Today the numbers are placed at more than 200,000. The magical Bt Cotton was neither magical nor so Bt’ed with common sense. Predictably, the secondary pests developed a resistance and started creating havoc.
But the company had paid off the top politicians and greenwashed, blackwashed, bloodwashed the case of Bt Cotton.
Find out more about this humanitarian, ecological, environmental disaster of Bt Cotton here: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/farmersSuicidesBtCottonIndia.php

Bt Brinjal

So in 2009, the GEAC (Genetic Enginnering Approval Committe) gave the go ahead to the world’s first genetically modified food that was to be directly consumed by humans - the Bt Brinjal. Also known as eggplant and aubergine.

Dr. Pushpa Bhargava was a member of the GEAC. A renowned microbiologist, Dr. Bhargava expressed shock at the approval.
Greenpeace, I am no Lab Rat, Krishi Virasat, Vandana Shiva, Gene Campaign and many others launched a campaign protesting the decision.
Millions of educated Indians got into the act.
And within 72 hours, our environment minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh’s offices was flooded with over 70,000 faxes and thousands of emails, saying Bt Brinjal must not be approved.

But it was the citizens of India who took it upon themselves to protest against this environmental colonialism. Thousands of letters from housewives, students and just about everyone poured into Mr. Jairam's office. From all corners of the country.

Never before was such a spontaneous environmental protest seen in this country’s history. Jairam Ramesh put off the decision till February. He said he would travel around the country and hold a series of public consultations. He would take the opinion of people, scientists and farmers.

Monsanto-Mahyco had politicians by their side. The science and technology minister of India, the agricultural minister of India came in defense of Bt Brinjal. Said it was harmless.
With all the power in their hands, Monsanto thought it had the game in control
Except they made a little mistake. They hadn’t realized that bigger than money, bigger than politics, bigger than anything else is something called the country.
It was India’s food security at stake and people came out in millions and took a stand against this blatant attempt at a new kind of colonialism.

And the Indians fought a pitched battle against Monsanto and their allies. Watch videos and see reports here: http://greenpeace.in/safefood/

Blogs like this were continuously giving out information which the mainstream media and newspapers refused to cover. http://greatindiansale.blogspot.com/search?q=bt+brinjal

The protest was democratic. More than 100,000 people around the country fasted in protest against Bt Brinjal on Martyrs Day - 30th January (anniversary of Gandhi’s assasination)

It was found that the politicians in favour of Bt Brinjal were singing Monsanto’s tune. In fact, they were quoting form Monsanto’s publicity material. Independent scientists wrote to the PM pointing out how promotional material of a pseudo-scientific organization funded primarily by Monsanto had found its way into government briefings on GM crops:
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264220

In the consultations, Monsanto brought in paid stooges to pose as farmers that supported Bt brinjals. They made a noise alongside scientists on Monsanto’s payroll. Which scientist would say things like: "people want new technology like iphone so why not btbrinjal?"
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15498385

And then the decision came in. India said no to Bt Brinjal.

Here is one of the most brilliant and transparent reports by a politician we have ever seen: http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article103839.ece

pdf: http://bit.ly/cbncBl

Read every word. It sets s precedent for the world trying to fight the GMO Battle.

Every word of it proves India is a strong democracy. And every word of it proves that science was being hijacked by the GMO companies. (Bad, inadequate research: http://www.gmwatch.org/latest-listing/1-news-items/11932-the-inadequacy-of-gm-brinjal-food-safety-studies-dr-judy-carman)

This was a victory of science.

As the Scottish Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham said
"We know very little, if anything, about the long-term effects of growing GM crops. To take risks with our natural environment is wholly indefensible and irresponsible. We simply cannot afford to take risks with untested technologies.

"We are ready to stand shoulder to shoulder with other nations who are opposed to GM and fight for what our people want. It is clear that concerns about GM exist in the developing, as well as the developed world, and I am pleased to see that the Indian Government has listened to public opinion."

The battle of the brinjal has been won. But the war continues around the world.

CONTAMINATION ALERT!

Contamination alert RT @GMWatch: URGENT: Immediate confiscation & destruction of all #Btbrinjal seed stock demanded http://bit.ly/bnzBJt


Further reading:

Monsanto on Monsanto: http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Ne200210go_aheads.asp

All the answers to questions like will GMOs solve world’s hunger?
http://greatindiansale.blogspot.com/2009/10/great-indian-lab-rat.html

Sunita Narain on the decision: http://www.business-standard.com//india/storypage.php?autono=385392

photo courtsey: The Hindu

Friday 15 January 2010

An open letter to Shri Jairam Ramesh

Dear Sir,

Please accept my congratulations on initiating a public dialogue on Bt Brinjal. What you have done proves our democracy is healthy.
However, I must bring to your notice some valid concerns regarding Bt Brinjal.
To sum up: Here is the situation. A whole lot of scientists are against Genetically Modified Food.
Many are in favour of it.
Those in favour say GM Foods are harmless.
But it’s not proven.
It would take years to find out the real effects of GM Food and then only they should be ‘unleashed’ on humans. If at all.
But why are the companies that make GM Food are in a hurry to get them approved?
Because with climate change they have an excuse of solving the food crisis. But that’s a tall claim and should be well tested.
Or it would mean compromising on our health, our country’s food security, and destroying small farmers.

After doing an extensive study, I list forth some key points that the GMO companies have put forth. And their point by point rebuttal from top scientists around the world.

What the companies say: There is no evidence that presently developed GE foods are harmful to health and environment.
Deceptive. The truth is that there is no scientific proof that the GE foods on the
market are harmless. There are studies, however, that are pointing out to the harmful effects. The Guardian reported that British scientist Dr Arpad Pusztai findings showed that rats fed on GM potatoes (both raw and cooked) after 10 days suffered a weakened immune system as well as severe impairment in the development of the internal organs such as heart, liver, kidney and even the brain.
Environment: The research to investigate long term environmental effects would take many years in each single case of genetic engineering. An expert appointed by the European Parliament to assess this issue concluded: "Our current knowledge does not provide us with the means to predict the ecological long-term effects of releasing organisms into the environment. So it is beyond the competence of the scientific system to answer such a question..."


What the companies say: GE-foods will save the world from global famine through greatly improved crops.
The report from International Assessment for Agricultural Science and Technology for Development, initiated by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, and conducted by 400 scientists over a period of three years, acknowledges that GM crops will not play a substantial role in addressing the key problems of climate change, biodiversity loss, hunger and poverty. “The future of farming lies in a biodiversity and labour-intensive agriculture that works with nature and the people, not against them.”
This report has been endorsed by the Government of India.

What the companies say: This is nothing new. Mankind has been modifying genes since thousands of years in breeding.
In mating, a chromosome from the mother is combined with a chromosome of the father. The sequence of DNA "code words" in each chromosome remains unchanged. And the chromosomes remain stable. The mating mechanism has been developed over billions of years and yields stable and reliable results.

In genetic engineering, a set of foreign genes is inserted haphazardly in the midst of the sequence of DNA "code words" (in this case in the DNA inherited from the mother. The insertion disrupts the ordinary command code sequence in the DNA. This disruption may disturb the functioning of the cell, and make the chromosome unstable in unpredictable and potentially hazardous ways.

Are long term tests really possible on GM Crops?
Agritech companies such as Monsanto, Pioneer and Syngenta don’t let their seeds be tested. For a decade their user agreements have explicitly forbidden the use of the seeds for any independent research. Under the threat of litigation, scientists cannot test a seed to explore the different conditions under which it thrives or fails. They cannot compare seeds from one company against those from another company. And perhaps most important, they cannot examine whether the genetically modified crops lead to unintended environmental side effects.
Research on genetically modified seeds is still published, of course. But only studies that the seed companies have approved ever see the light of a peer-reviewed journal. -
Scientific American, August 2009

Sir, we respect you and know that in the light of all the valid criticism against Bt Brinjal, you will impose a moratorium on it, till it proves to be safe.

Kind regards,