A transgenic crop plant commonly referred as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) contains a gene or genes which have been artificially inserted using genetic engineering instead of the plant acquiring them through pollination or conventional breeding. Research on GMOs began a decade ago, but only recently, genetically modified crops have reached the farmers field and their area is constantly increasing every year. In the year 1996, the GM crops acquired 4.3 million acres which has been increased to 109.2 million acres in the year 2000 in 13 countries. Most of the transgenic crop varieties currently grown by farmers are either herbicide tolerant or insect pest resistant. The list of GM crops includes soyabean, corn cotton, canola, potato, sugar beet, tomato, rice, etc. The rapidly accelerating adoption rate provides a good indicator of the acceptance of GM crops among the farming community. But GMOs have become a flesh point of controversy because of some anticipated potential risks associated with them and there are wide spread and highly publicized protests by the opponents of this technology around the world including US, Europe and India. However, most of the concern about the safety of GM crops and GM food have not been substantiated through experimental evidence. The various aspects of GMOs related to its science, potential benefits to farmers, controversial issues, public acceptance, biosafety regulations and their future prospects have been discussed in detail in this paper.