IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jodeso/v37y2021i2p167-183.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Environment and its Forms of Knowledge: The Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops in India

Author

Listed:
  • Aniket Aga

    (Department of Environmental Studies, Ashoka University, Sonipat)

Abstract

A fierce controversy over genetically modified (GM) crops has been raging in India for over two decades. Analyzing India’s regulatory regime for GM crops, this article focuses on the modes through which state bureaucracies know the environment. It argues that two epistemologies - scientific and legal-administrative – underpin environment protection. By unraveling the course of regulatory disputes, I demonstrate that bureaucracies are not just hierarchically divided but are also segmented by horizontal, functional specializations. There is thus an inherent ambiguity lodged between environment as a technical discourse and as statecraft. This ambiguity both fosters and constrains democratic participation in policy decisions and can even partially disrupt power relations in unanticipated ways.

Suggested Citation

  • Aniket Aga, 2021. "Environment and its Forms of Knowledge: The Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops in India," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 37(2), pages 167-183, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:37:y:2021:i:2:p:167-183
    DOI: 10.1177/0169796X211001235
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0169796X211001235
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0169796X211001235?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lapegna, Pablo, 2016. "Soybeans and Power: Genetically Modified Crops, Environmental Politics, and Social Movements in Argentina," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190215149.
    2. Ronald Herring, 2007. "Stealth seeds: Bioproperty, biosafety, biopolitics," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 130-157.
    3. Paarlberg, Robert L., 2001. "The politics of precaution: genetically modified crops in developing countries," Food policy statements 35, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ramaswami, Bharat & Pray, Carl E. & Lalitha, N., 2012. "The Spread of Illegal Transgenic Cotton Varieties in India: Biosafety Regulation, Monopoly, and Enforcement," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 177-188.
    2. Pierre Delvenne, 2021. "Cultivating power, enacting consent. A critical review of ‘Seeds of power. Environmental injustice and genetically modified soybeans in Argentina’, (A. Leguizamón) 2020, Duke University Press, 221 p," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Springer, vol. 102(4), pages 441-447, December.
    3. Stone, Glenn Davis, 2011. "Field versus Farm in Warangal: Bt Cotton, Higher Yields, and Larger Questions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 387-398, March.
    4. Fischer, Klara, 2016. "Why new crop technology is not scale-neutral—A critique of the expectations for a crop-based African Green Revolution," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(6), pages 1185-1194.
    5. Shahzad Kouser & David J Spielman & Matin Qaim, 2019. "Transgenic cotton and farmers’ health in Pakistan," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-19, October.
    6. David Kothamasi & Saskia Vermeylen, 2011. "Genetically modified organisms in agriculture: can regulations work?," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 535-546, June.
    7. Hefferon, Kathleen L. & Herring, Ronald J., 2017. "The End of the GMO? Genome Editing, Gene Drives and New Frontiers of Plant Technology," Review of Agrarian Studies, Foundation for Agrarian Studies, vol. 7(1), July.
    8. Sebastián Huneeus & Sergio Toro & Juan Pablo Luna & Diego Sazo & Andrés Cruz & Daniel Alcatruz & Bryan Castillo & Camila Bertranou & Javier Cisterna, 2021. "Delayed and Approved: A Quantitative Study of Conflicts and the Environmental Impact Assessments of Energy Projects in Chile 2012–2017," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-13, June.
    9. Arce, Moises & Nieto-Matiz, Camilo, 2024. "Mining and violence in Latin America: The state’s coercive responses to anti-mining resistance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    10. Ravikumar, Ashwin & Chairez Uriarte, Esperanza & Lizano, Daniela & Muñoz Ledo Farré, Andrea & Montero, Mariel, 2023. "How payments for ecosystem services can undermine Indigenous institutions: The case of Peru's Ampiyacu-Apayacu watershed," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    11. Ahmad, Amal, 2022. "Imperfect information and learning: Evidence from cotton cultivation in Pakistan," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 176-204.
    12. Maria Eugenia Giraudo & Jean Grugel, 2022. "Imaginaries of Soy and the Costs of Commodity‐led Development: Reflections from Argentina," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(4), pages 796-826, July.
    13. Stone, Glenn Davis & Flachs, Andrew & Diepenbrock, Christine, 2014. "Rhythms of the herd: Long term dynamics in seed choice by Indian farmers," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 26-38.
    14. N. Lalitha & Carl E. Pray & Bharat Ramaswami, 2008. "The Limits of intellectual property rights: Lessons from the spread of illegal transgenic seeds in India," Discussion Papers 08-06, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    15. Spielman, David J. & Kennedy, Adam, 2016. "Towards better metrics and policymaking for seed system development: Insights from Asia's seed industry," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 111-122.
    16. Coomes, Oliver T. & McGuire, Shawn J. & Garine, Eric & Caillon, Sophie & McKey, Doyle & Demeulenaere, Elise & Jarvis, Devra & Aistara, Guntra & Barnaud, Adeline & Clouvel, Pascal & Emperaire, Laure & , 2015. "Farmer seed networks make a limited contribution to agriculture? Four common misconceptions," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 41-50.
    17. Natalie G. Mueller & Andrew Flachs, 2022. "Domestication, crop breeding, and genetic modification are fundamentally different processes: implications for seed sovereignty and agrobiodiversity," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(1), pages 455-472, March.
    18. Andrew L. Ofstehage, 2018. "Financialization of work, value, and social organization among transnational soy farmers in the Brazilian Cerrado," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 274-285, June.
    19. Huang, Jikun & Chen, Ruijian & Qiao, Fangbin & Wu, Kongming, 2015. "Biosafety management and pesticide use in China's Bt cotton production," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 67-75.
    20. Katharina Najork & Jonathan Friedrich & Markus Keck, 2022. "Bt cotton, pink bollworm, and the political economy of sociobiological obsolescence: insights from Telangana, India," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(3), pages 1007-1026, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:37:y:2021:i:2:p:167-183. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.