The Plant Varieties Protection and Farmers' Rights Act, referred to in the article below, bans registration of seeds containing terminator technology as well as giving some rights to farmers.
The farmers' leader quoted in the article below, welcoming the notification of the Act and calling for its extension, is Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary who has also been calling for the biotech industry to compensate farmers for the failure of Bt cotton.
Dr Chaudhary is the executive chairman of India's leading farmers' organisation, Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS) which has some 5 million farmers as members. BKS has been proactive in fighting for the cause of Indian farmers since the 1950s.
What’s particularly inspiring about Dr Chaudhary's active engagement in promoting the protection of Indian famers in the face of the GM corporations, Terminator Tech and the corporatisation of the farm sector, is that he is such an influential figure, having held such notable positions as Chairman of the Indian Sugarcane Development Council (1992-95); Chairman of the State Farms Corporation of India (1995-96) and director of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (1998-2004).
Dr Chaudhary is also the Editor-in-Chief of a monthly magazine, The Farmers' Forum, and of the weekly Krishak Samachar (Farmers' News) published separately in Hindi and English. Dr Chaudhary also presents a weekly TV programme on farmers' issues called Kisan Ki Awaaz (Voice of the Farmers)
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Farmers hail PVP & FR Act notification
ASHOK B SHARMA
Financial Express, November 14, 2005
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=108540
Farmers have hailed the government's decision to notify the Plant Varieties Protection and Farmers' Rights (PVP&FR) Act, 2001. They said that though the decision is belated, it would solve the farmers’ problems to a great extent.
The legislation was passed by Parliament way back in 2001 and received Presidential assent in the same year, but was withheld from notification, which prevented its implementation over the past few years.
The Act, apart from protecting farm bio-diversity, allows farmers to save and exchange seeds in unbranded form for use in the next crop season. The Act has also banned registration of seeds containing terminator technology vide section 18 (1) (C).
The government has recently constituted Plant Varieties Protection and Farmers' Rights Board under the chairmanship of Dr S Nagarajan for implementation of the Act.
Speaking to FE, executive chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS) Dr Krishan Bir Chaudhary said: "The PVP&FR Act was long withheld from its implementation due to pressure from the interested lobby of seed companies. This law gives some leverage to farmers in matters of use of seeds, though not complete freedom. There had been recent attempts to nullify this meagre freedom given to farmers under this Act by the introduction of amendments to the Seeds Act in the Parliament. The farmers will not tolerate any such move and demand immediate withdrawal of the proposed amendments to the Seeds Act. Rather PVP&FR Act should be further amended to give more freedom to farmers."
Dr Chaudhary had earlier expressed concern over Delta & Pine Land announcing its new plans to foray into the seed sector, after it got patent rights for its terminator technology in patent offices abroad. He now said that with the notification of PVP&FR Act, the country is better poised to deal with this situation.
Dr Chaudhary was the sole farmers' representative to the recently held global conference on biotechnology hosted by Asia-Pacific Association of Agriculture Research Institutions (APAARI) and FAO in Bangkok where he demanded that the seed multinationals compensate farmers for the failure of Bt cotton.