1. So Ramesh froze action on Bt brinjal.

2. Bt brinjal would have been India's first GM food crop — the only other approved GM plant in the country is Bt cotton.

3. Why did Bt brinjal — developed by Maharashtra Hybrids Seeds Company (Mahyco), in which the US giant Monsanto has a 26 per cent stake — get put on hold?

4. Pic.27 A Greenpeace activist dressed as a brinjal protests against Bt brinjal, a genetically modified eggplant crop, in Bangalore, India, Friday, Jan. 22, 2010.

5. The environment ministry halted plans for bt brinjal cultivation earlier.

6. Several prominent politicians came forward to defend Bt brinjal, including science minister Prithviraj Chavan and former science minister Kapil Sibal.

7. The controversy has erupted soon after India's decision to halt the cultivation of GM eggplant (brinjal) despite clearance by GEAC (see India says no — for now — to first GM vegetable).

8. In the case of Bt brinjal, the introduced gene was from a non-edible source.

9. Swapan Datta, DeputyDirectiveGeneraldeputydirectorgeneral of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, says consumers won't buy a worm-eaten brinjal.

10. Citing fears about safety, India's environment minister announced a moratorium on the commercial cultivation of what would have been India's first genetically modified crop Bt Brinjal, or aubergine.

11. The first was the government's two-year moratorium on GM brinjal in February (see India says no — for now — to first GM vegetable).