Biological Diversity Amendment Bill Passed In Lok Sabha

Relevance: GS2 - Government Policies & Interventions; GS3 - Environment and Conservation

(Source: The Hindu, 07/26/2023)

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Why in the news?

• Recently, the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed in the Lok Sabha, aiming to amend the existing Biological Diversity Act, 2002. 
• The act was initially introduced with the objective of ensuring sustainable and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of biological resources and traditional knowledge. 
• However, over the years, various stakeholders, including traditional medicine practitioners, the seed sector, industry, and researchers, raised concerns about the compliance burden and restrictions hindering research and investments.

Key Provisions of the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021

• Exemption for AYUSH Medical Practitioners: The bill seeks to allow AYUSH practitioners to use certain natural resources for the treatments without having to go through extra paperwork or approval processes with biodiversity boards. 
• Approval of Intellectual Property Right (IPR): For Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) related to Indian biological resources, National Biodiversity Authority approval is needed before the grant of IPR, not just before application.
• Benefit Sharing: The users of codified traditional knowledge and AYUSH practitioners will be relieved from the obligation of sharing benefits with local communities. It excludes the obligation to share the benefits from research and bio-surveys.
• Offenses and Penalties: The Bill decriminalizes all offenses previously stipulated under the Act, bringing about a significant change in the legal aspect and substitutes them with monetary penalties. 

What are the concerns raised?

• Environmentalist organizations such as Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment (LIFE) state that the amendment seems to be done with the sole intention of providing benefit to the Ayush industry. 
• The term codified traditional knowledge is not clearly defined.
• The Bill takes away the involvement of local communities in deciding how benefits should be shared.
• Under the Bill, offenses previously considered illegal would no longer be treated as crimes but would carry various penalties. 
• The Bill changes the adjudicating authority from a Judge to a government official. The penalty decisions will be based on an inquiry instead of a judgement after arguments in an open court.

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FAQs

MCQ

Question: How does the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) help in protecting Indian agriculture? (UPSC 2012)

1. NBA checks the biopiracy and protects the indigenous and traditional genetic resources.
2. NBA directly monitors and supervises the scientific research on genetic modification of crop plants.
3. Application for intellectual Property Rights related to genetic / biological resources cannot be made without the approval of the NBA.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 and 3 only

(c) 1 and 3 only

(d) 1, 2 and 3