Plant Variety Protection and Farmers' Rights Law

A long and arduous struggle for the recognition of the rights of farmers has ended with the passing of the Plant Variety Protection and Farmers Rights Bill by the Lok Sabha. The bill recognises the farmer as a conserver of the agricultural gene pool and as a breeder. It makes provision for such farmers' varieties to be registered. The rights of rural communities are acknowledged as well. While the bill can be improved in some respects, the next major step is to decide through which international platform India will interact with other nations. At present the only such platform is UPOV. However, India should work, with other developing countries, to evolve an alternative to UPOV.