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

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  • 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
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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).
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