Which one of the following Union Ministries implements the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety?

Answer: (c) Ministry of Environment and Forests

The environment ministry (MoEF, now MoEFCC) is the nodal ministry for the CBD and its Cartagena Protocol.

The idea

The Cartagena Protocol is a protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Its worry is environmental: a living modified organism released in a new country may harm native species. So in India it sits with the ministry that handles the CBD, the environment ministry.

Convention on Biological Diversity → environment ministry → Cartagena Protocol is its child → same ministry → GM crop release is cleared by the GEAC → The GEAC sits in the environment ministry

Why the others are wrong

(a) DBT (Science and Technology) handles lab-level GM research rules, but not the protocol.

The trap

GM technology sounds like a science ministry matter.

Also know

GEAC = Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, set up under the 1989 Rules of the Environment (Protection) Act. Bt cotton (2002) is the only GM crop grown commercially in India. The protocol was adopted in 2000 and came into force in 2003.