NEW DELHI // India’s environment minister died on Thursday, depriving prime minister Narendra Modi’s government of a key figure as it considers whether to approve the country’s first genetically modified food crop.
Anil Madhav Dave, 60, died at a New Delhi hospital after complaining of feeling unwell, a day after attending a cabinet meeting.
The two-term politician from Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, a veteran of Hindu-nationalist umbrella group the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was named last year as minister for the environment, forest and climate change.
Mr Dave had been due to make a final call on an application for an indigenously developed GM crop of mustard. A ministry panel recently recommended allowing commercial cultivation of the oilseed.
“I was with Anil Madhav Daveji till late last evening, discussing key policy issues. This demise is a personal loss,” Mr Modi said on social network Twitter.
* Reuters