Regulator soon for plant varieties, farmers rights

AGRI MINISTRY MOVES TO IMPLEMENT 2001 ACT

The agriculture ministry has initiated the process of setting up an apex regulatory-cum-promotional authority for ensuring smooth implementation of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001.

A search committee is being set up to select a suitable candidate for the post of chairman of the plant varieties and farmers' rights protection authority.

This follows the Cabinet's approval of the proposal for creating the post of the chairperson of the proposed authority. Certain modifications proposed by the agriculture ministry in the rules for the composition of the search committee have also been approved by the Cabinet and vetted by the law ministry, according to Krishi Bhawan sources.

India has opted for a sui generis domestic law for the protection of crop varieties under the trade related intellectual property rights (TRIPs) agreement.

As a result the Protection of Plan Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001, was passed by the Parliament after a protracted process of consultations and reviews by various committees. This new statute has formally been notified on March 4, 2005.

A unique feature of this law is that it provides protection to not only the plant varieties but also to their breeders even while granting the farmers the right to retain the farm-grown seeds of the protected varieties for self use and even sharing them with others without commercial motives. For this, the law seeks to appoint the plant varieties and farmers' rights protection authority.

The authority will have 15 members. The chairman would be chosen from among the persons having long practical experience in plant varietal research or agricultural development. The chairman would be virtually the chief executive of the authority and have far reaching powers to ensure its smooth functioning.

Besides protecting the farmers and plant breeders' rights, the authority will also be responsible for promoting the development of new and better varieties of seeds in both public and private sectors. All the varieties will have to be registered with the authority. A plant varieties registry will be set up as part of the authority for this purpose.

The authority would also undertake documentation, indexing and cataloguing of the varieties developed and preserved by the farmers and local communities by cultivating them over decades.

Of the 15 members of the authority, eight will be ex-officio members from the agriculture and other concerned ministries, such as the agriculture commissioner, the horticulture commissioner and the deputy director-general (crops) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The others will include representatives of the farmers, tribals, women organisations, seed industry and state agricultural universities. Two representatives of the state governments would be appointed as members of the authority by the Centre on rotation basis.

Green signal

• A search committee is being set up to select a suitable candidate for the post of chairman of the body
  
  
• The authority will have 15 members. The chairman would be chosen from among the persons having long practical experience in plant varietal research or agricultural development
  
  
• The chairman would be virtually the chief executive of the authority and have far reaching powers to ensure its smooth functioning