On Thursday June 20, members of Shetakari Sanghtana, a farming organization, planted a herbicide-resistant cotton (NT) variety banned in India as an act of civil disobedience in Maharashtra.

Sanghatana previously announced it was about to sow in protest against the ban on genetically modified (GM) crops. The banned cotton was sown in Revgaon in Jalna County, after which the farmers staged a sit-in.

NT-cotton eliminates the need for manual weeding, because instead, farmers can use herbicides and save on farm workers' pay. Agriculture department employees took samples of the sown cotton in order to find out if this is a prohibited variety.

NT varieties of cotton, like eggplant since 2015, are banned in the state of Makharashtra because of concerns that GM crops may have harmful effects on people and the environment.

At the same time, Santos Mohite, a member of Shetakari Sanghtana, claims that GM cotton and eggplant are allowed in many countries because they benefit farmers and there is no evidence of any adverse effects on people and the environment.