Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (PTI)
NEW DELHI: Seeking government’s intervention at multilateral forum to protect India’s sovereign rights over its genetic resources, a group of scientists/experts on Wednesday wrote to Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan urging him to mobilise the Global South to jointly demand a “fair and equitable” share of profits earned by users of genetic resources in the technology-rich Global North.They sought India’s leadership role at the upcoming 11th governing body meeting of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in Peru next month.Genetic resources are shared under law for research and advancements in medicine and agriculture. It is largely believed that the full access to such resources, instead of a negotiated access, could significantly compromise a nation’s sovereign rights over its own genetic resources and override domestic legislation, like India’s Biodiversity Act.“We believe that securing a just and mandatory system for benefit-sharing is fundamental to protecting the welfare of our farming communities and asserting India’s sovereign control over its genetic resources,” said the scientists/experts – Suman Sahai, Dinesh Abrol, Soma Marla and Sarath Babu Balijepalli – in their joint letter to the minister.They underlined that the current system of voluntary sharing of monetary benefits has proven to be a complete failure. “It is therefore very clear that the Treaty’s financial mechanism, based on voluntary contributions, is unsustainable and unjust,” they wrote.Referring to the failure of voluntarism, they noted that approximately seven million accessions have been transferred under the Multilateral System (MLS). “These resources, originating largely from the Global South, have driven billions of dollars in commercial value for the global industries. Yet, the corresponding payment for this immense contribution has been minimal,” they said.The group flagged that if the issues remain unresolved and the government chooses to compromise on the mandated objectives of negotiations, the Global South would end up offering genetic wealth on a platter without securing gains of monetary compensation and non-monetary benefits of technology transfer.
