GM technology will help Indian farmers to produce more food using fewer resources for growing population, Professor C Kameswara Rao, Executive Secretary of Bangalore-based Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness & Education (FBAE), said.

The Technical Expert Committee (TEC), appointed by the Supreme Court, has recommended that a blanket ban of ten years should be imposed on field trials of transgenic food crops as well as field trials of transgenics in those crops for which India is a centre of origin.

But, Prof Rao said that Indian farmers faced challenge to meet the needs of growing population, without increasing arable land or irrigation facilities amid fast-changing climate.

Speaking on the topic, Prof Rao said, "The Indian farmers have to produce enough to meet the needs of growing population . such interventions as GM technology will play a crucial role in providing the necessary means to enable farmers to produce more using fewer resources."

He added that the TEC's report submitted to the apex court of India appeared to rely wholly on the views of a select group of activists and scientists who opposed biotech in agriculture, ignoring all the others.

Many other eminent biotechnologists, including Prof G Padmanabhan - the former Director of the Indian Institute of Science; Dr KK Narayanan - Managing Director of Meta-Helix Life Sciences Ltd.; and Dr M Mahadevappa, ex Vice Chancellor of University of Agricultural Sciences, also opposed the recommendations of the TEC.

The scientists requests the Supreme Court to reject TEC's interim report and to form a balanced committee to re-examine all the issues pointed out in the interim report.