Source: PIB
Subject: Government Schemes
Context: Union Agriculture Minister presented the Plant Genome Saviour Awards in New Delhi to mark the Silver Jubilee of the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FRA) Act, 2001.
About Silver Jubilee of PPV&FRA Act:
What it is?
- India’s first sui generis legal framework (enacted in 2001) for protecting the rights of farmers and plant breeders, ensuring equitable benefit-sharing and seed sovereignty.
Launched in: 2001, under the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare; Authority operational since 2005.
Aim: To establish a balanced system that encourages innovation in plant breeding while recognizing farmers’ role in conserving genetic diversity.
Key Features:
- Farmers’ Rights (Section 39): Farmers can save, use, sow, resow, exchange, and share seeds of registered varieties; they are also eligible for compensation for non-performance of varieties.
- Breeders’ Rights: Exclusive rights to produce, sell, or license protected varieties, ensuring intellectual property protection for innovation.
- Registration Criteria (DUS): Varieties must meet Distinctness, Uniformity, and Stability standards; 57 crop species notified for registration.
- National Gene Fund: Created to channel benefit-sharing fees and support in-situ conservation and rewarding farmers.
- Researchers’ Exemption: Allows use of registered varieties for experimentation and varietal development, ensuring open scientific access.
- Benefit-Sharing & Protection: Recognition of community knowledge through National Register of Plant Varieties (NRPV) and legal remedy for biopiracy.
About Plant Genome Saviour Awards:
- What it is?
- A national recognition scheme instituted by PPV&FRA to honour farmers and communities preserving traditional and endangered plant varieties.
- Origin: Introduced under Section 39(1)(iii) of the PPV&FRA Act to reward grassroots conservationists of genetic resources.
- Awarded to:
- Individual farmers and community seed groups engaged in conserving indigenous landraces and wild relatives of crops.
- 2025 recipients include Community Seed Bank (Telangana), Mithilanchal Makhana Producers’ Association (Bihar), and CRS-Na Dihing Tenga Unyan Committee (Assam), among others.
