New Delhi: The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) is preparing new internal guidelines for its scientists following a dispute over data linked to genome-edited (GE) rice varieties.According to the New Indian Express, the draft guidelines place limits on how scientists share the findings of their research, discouraging them from sharing the results with international journals without full confidence in their veracity.The move follows the government’s announcement on May 4 of two GE rice varieties developed by ICAR – Pusa DST-1 and DRR Dhan 100 (Kamala). The government described the varieties as having the potential to improve yields, climate resilience and water use, a claim that was publicly supported by Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.Soon after the announcement, a group comprising scientists, farmer representatives, medical professionals, consumer rights advocates and members of the Coalition for a GM-Free India questioned the claims. The group cited trial data from ICAR’s All India Coordinated Research Project on Rice for 2023 and 2024, stating that the available data did not support the conclusions presented by ICAR.ICAR responded with a point-by-point reply to the allegations. A scientist familiar with the matter told the paper that the new guidelines were aimed at addressing concerns about premature publication, adding that while the rules could reduce the volume of research papers, they were expected to strengthen the credibility of published work.BackgroundThe new rice varieties, introduced by Chouhan on May 4, 2025, were hailed as the first of their kind globally. “These new varieties will play a leading role in heralding the second Green Revolution, the minister had said.However, these claims were challenged at a press conference held by the Coalition in November. Soumik Banerjee, an independent researcher, who was one of the two speakers at the press conference, had said, “If we look at Dhan-100 Kamala, we see the contradictions clearly. Kamala was projected as a miracle variety — with 17% higher yield, early maturity, and superior nitrogen use efficiency. The ICAR’s own documents clearly show that in 2023, Kamala underperformed in 8 of 19 trial sites. In two zones (eastern and central), it performed significantly worse than its parent. In the southern zone, the supposed yield gain was only 4.3%.” Further, Banerjee had explained, in 2024, “several sites were excluded without explanation, and results from just six sites were used to project a +17.21% yield advantage. The data for such a conclusion is not shown”. He suggested that “the overall mean yield was 4% lower than the parent variety, and no published field data supports the claim of “20 days earlier maturity”.