Hyderabad: The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA) has been slammed for ignoring farmers, farmers’ organizations and organizations working to protect farmers’ rights, in the “special awareness session on enforcement of the intellectual property rights in seeds” they co-hosted in Hyderabad on Friday.
In a letter addressed to Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Chairperson, PPV&FR Authority, Government of India, Dr B Gopi, Director, Department of Agriculture, Government of Telangana, M Raghunandan Rao, APC & Principal Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of India on Friday; Dr Suman Sahai, Founding Director, Gene Campaign, has warned that “any dilution of the Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act 2001 will not be tolerated by the Indian people.”
“There is a notable exclusion from this program of most of the major players involved in over ten years of debates and discussions that contributed to the framing of India’s unique sui generis legislation,” Dr Sahai observed.
She reminded that he has been a member of the ‘Expert Committee’ constituted to frame India’s sui generis legislation after India had categorically rejected the patent option offered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
She stated that the issue of patents on genetic material, under the Patents Act, in its de facto unlawful application to seeds (cotton seed in particular), was under adjudication in the Supreme Court of India.
That was in the context of Indian seed companies entering into litigation with multi-national companies (MNCs) like Monsanto, which in January 2019, sent the matter back to the Delhi High Court without pronouncing any judgement on the question of patentability of genetic material in India.
“It appears from confidential proceedings of an arbitration tribunal that the matter between the contesting companies is probably settled, leaving the question of patentability unresolved. Is it possible that this industry sponsored awareness program on Enforcement of IPR on Seeds is an attempt to gather industry favorable opinion for seed patents?” Dr Sahai wondered.
She questioned whether the awareness session was organised against the backdrop of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) being negotiated by countries in the developed world with India, the undisclosed FTA texts which contained provisions that sought to push India towards a International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) regime.
