A fierce controversy over genetically modified (GM) crops has been raging in India for over two decades. Analyzing India’s regulatory regime for GM crops, this article focuses on the modes through which state bureaucracies know the environment. It argues that two epistemologies - scientific and legal-administrative – underpin environment protection. By unraveling the course of regulatory disputes, I demonstrate that bureaucracies are not just hierarchically divided but are also segmented by horizontal, functional specializations. There is thus an inherent ambiguity lodged between environment as a technical discourse and as statecraft. This ambiguity both fosters and constrains democratic participation in policy decisions and can even partially disrupt power relations in unanticipated ways.

二十多年来，关于转基因 (GM) 作物的激烈争论在印度一直在肆虐。本文分析了印度对转基因作物的监管制度，重点关注国家官僚机构了解环境的方式。它认为，两种认识论——科学的和法律行政的——支撑着环境保护。通过解开监管纠纷的过程，我证明官僚机构不仅按等级划分，而且还按横向、职能专业化进行划分。因此，在作为技术话语和作为治国之道的环境之间存在着内在的模糊性。这种模糊性既促进又限制了民主参与决策，甚至可能以意想不到的方式部分破坏权力关系。