Environment and its Forms of Knowledge: The Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops in India. Issue 2 (June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Aga, Aniket
• Other Names: Vasan Sudha guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Journal of developing societies. Volume 37:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 167
• Page End: 183
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Subjects: Environment -- bureaucracy -- GM crops -- democracy -- regulation -- government; Developing countries -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- History -- Periodicals; 909.09724
• DOI: 10.1177/0169796X211001235
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0169-796X

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.