The Horticulture Deputy Director General of ICAR Dr. H P Singh assured that BT Brinjal is scientifically safe and Government is gathering public opinion about the same. Speaking after the press conference in Bangalore today, he noted that with population increasing at 1.8% per annum 200 million tones of vegetables are required by 2020.<br/><br/>To meet this demand it becomes imperative to depend on BT varieties of vegetables, he added. The BT varieties are less dependent on pesticides hence the residue left over the vegetables that is harming the health of people can be avoided by BT varieties, he opined. He disclosed that ICAR is likely to sign MOU with private companies to develop disease resistant and high yielding varieties of vegetable crops and exploit it for commercial purposes. The profit from this joint venture will be pumped back into research institutions in the public sector, he said.