India's Plant Variety Protection Law: Historical and Implementation Perspectives

Abstract

This paper examines the objectives and functioning of the Plant Variety Protection and Farmers Rights Act, 2001 (PPV&FR Act) in the light of the history and current state of Indian agriculture and available plant variety registration statistics. The analysis first studies the problems faced by Indian agriculture that the law seeks to resolve. It then provides a statistical analysis of plant variety application trends under the Act to determine whether it is ‘effective’ in the light of the law’s objectives. The paper identifies divergent policies in the agricultural sector and suggests means of streamlining the same to maximize the effectiveness of the PPV&FR Act. Doing so would further incentivize optimum growth of the private and public sector seed industry in India, and strengthen India’s stand before the international community where article 27.3(b) of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) continues to be under review.

Keywords: Plant variety protection, India, farmers rights, seed replacement, hybrids, plant variety journal

JEL Classification: K39