Ecocert India to confer Dr Alexander Daniel Memorial Award to Anti-GMO crusader Mr Ram Kalaspurkar

March 28, 2012 - PRLog -- Aurangabad: Ecocert India, a leading inspection and certification body in south Asian region for organic, fair trade and GAP has announced today Mr Ram Kalaspurkar as the recipient of the prestigious Dr Alexander Daniel Memorial Award for the year 2012.  
“We are indeed pleased to declare that this year a long time Anti-GMO activist, a hardcore organic farmer himself and a technocrat Mr Ram Kalaspurkar is being chosen for this award, for his remarkable work in past two decades! We feel honoured to confer this award in admiration of his service to the society at large.” said Dr Selvam Daniel, Managing Director of Ecocert India.
It all started in 1992 when Mr Ram Kalaspurkar, an electronics engineer by profession and a successful entrepreneur in the city of Yavatmal in Vidarbha region encountered the sudden loss in his ancestral farmland. In the course of serious investigation he came across the fact that the very seeds were male sterile.

There began a journey of an untiring and enduring struggle against the multinational seed companies conspiracy. Since then Mr Kalaspurkar has incessantly studied the complex science behind the genetic modification, terminator technology and its unimaginable catastrophic after-effects. He understood that newer pathogens are being born because of the ‘promoter’ technology, causing irreversible damage to biodiversity because unlike vertebrates, immune system in plants is not adoptive to these new pathogens, viruses which leads to mass dying of the different plant species across the world. He also proved to the world how wherever GM cotton was introduced, the mealy bug infestation almost ate up the standing crops – the pest unheard of in yesteryears.

He realised that no one is talking about these damages. No one is aware of the real loss. His concern goes beyond the usual talks about the phenomena like high cost of these seeds, ethical perspective and false claims about higher yields etc. Mr Ram Kalaspurkar grew concerned more about the heavy loss of native seeds, losing seed sovereignty of farmers, losses to food webs beyond recovery and global massacre of several plant species because of this terminator seed technology.  
Since then, this third generation organic farmer, a successful tape recorder manufacturer turned anti GMO activist and conserver of native seeds has devoted his life to this very cause.
“It is certainly an honour to us.  Never in the history of earth, was it in need of such selfless campaigners who have vowed to protect it from disastrous techniques of fellow humans. We wish to do our bit by encouraging such souls like Mr Ram Kalspurkar for their praiseworthy work.” says Dr Amol Nirban, of Ecocert India.
The award ceremony will take place on 3rd April 2012 at an organic farm near Aurangabad, the head quarter of Ecocert India.