Editorial 1 : What is the Biodiversity Act? What changes has the Lok Sabha cleared in the law?
Recent Context:
- Recently, Lok Sabha passed the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 with certain amendment to Biological Diversity Act of 2002.
- The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill seeks to address concerns of several central ministries, state governments, researchers, industry, and other stakeholders, regarding the implementation of the 20-year-old law that is meant to preserve the country’s biological diversity and to ensure its sustainable use.
Government’s arguments for the amendment of the bill: The amendments aim
- To encourage Indian systems of medicine like Ayurveda,
- To attract more foreign investment in the preservation and commercial utilisation of India’s biological resources, and
- To simplify and streamline processes so that it is easy for everyone to comply with its provisions
International and India’s effort to protect Biodiversity
- The efforts to protect biological diversity had begun much earlier. In 1994, countries including India had agreed to a Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Under which There was a general agreement on three things:
- indiscriminate use of biological resources needed to be halted,
- sustainable use of these resources, for their medicinal properties for example, needed to be regulated
- people and communities helping in protecting and maintaining these resources needed to be rewarded for their efforts.
- With these objectives in Mind, Indian government enacted India’s Biological Diversity Act of 2002.
- It formulates a three-tier structure consisting of a National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) at the national level, State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) at the State level and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) at local body levels.
- The primary responsibility of the BMCs is to document local biodiversity and associated knowledge in the form of a People’s Biodiversity Register.
- And National Biodiversity Authority as a regulatory body, and prescribed the conditions in, and purposes for, which biological resources could be utilised. The purposes mainly related to scientific research and commercial use.
So why did the need for amendments to the law arise?
- Over the years, several stakeholders, like those representing the Indian system of medicine, the seed sector, pharmaceutical and other industries, and the research community, have pointed out that some of the provisions of the 2002 law restricted their activities and thus needed to be modified.
- In addition, countries agreed to the Nagoya Protocol in 2010, an important international agreement under the CBD, that contained an Access and Benefit Sharing mechanism.
- Under this mechanism, biodiversity-rich countries needed to provide access to their biological resources to those wanting to use it for research or commercial reasons, and
- the user agencies, in turn, were mandated to share the benefits of their use with the local communities. This access and benefit-sharing works at both the domestic and the international levels.
- Over the last few years, the government too has been trying to encourage traditional systems of medicine, all of which rely on these biological resources
What amendments have been proposed in the biodiversity law?
- The Bill passed on Tuesday makes several amendments to the 2002 Act, addressing most of the concerns raised by the practitioners of traditional systems of medicine, the seed sector, and the pharmaceutical industry.
- The Bill sought to exempt registered AYUSH medical practitioners and people accessing codified traditional knowledge, among others, from giving prior intimation to State biodiversity boards to access biological resources for certain purposes.
- Along with certain categories of users of biological resources, like practitioners of Indian systems of medicine have been exempted from making payments towards the access and benefit-sharing mechanism.
- Companies registered in India and controlled by Indians are now treated as Indian companies, even if they have foreign equity or partnership, thereby reducing the restrictions on them.
- Under the bill now, Benefit sharing will be based on terms agreed between the user and the local management committee represented by the National Authority.
- Provisions have been included to speed up the approval process in cases of use of biological resources in scientific research, or for filing of patent applications.
Concern raised over amendment made in the bill:
- Environmentalist organisations such as Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment (LIFE) have said that the amendments were made to “solely benefit” the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) Ministry and would pave the way for “bio piracy.”
- The modifications would exempt AYUSH manufacturing companies from needing approvals from the NBA and thus will go against one of the core provisions of the Act.
- The term codified traditional knowledge has not been defined. A broad interpretation might exempt all local traditional knowledge from benefit sharing requirements.
- The Bill removes the direct role of local communities in determining benefit sharing provisions.
- The Bill decriminalises offences under the Act and instead provides for a wide range of penalties. Further, the Bill empowers government officials to hold inquiries and determine penalties
Conclusion
- Amendment to the bill ensure that tribes and vulnerable communities get the benefit from the proceeds of medicinal forest products and along with it by decriminalizing certain activities, it will help in encouraging Ayurveda as well as ease of doing business.
- Therefore, amendments to the bills are need of hour to bring the positive amendment in the Biodiversity Act for sustainable utilisation of biodiversity resources while protecting the biodiversity.
Editorial 2 : Ease of doing Research
Recent Context:
- Recently, The Union Cabinet cleared a bill enabling the setting up of the National Research Foundation (NRF), with a corpus of Rs 50,000 crore
- The announcement has been welcomed by researchers and academics who have been waiting to see the promised increase in R&D spends by the government.
Funding mechanism under NRF:
- With regard to funding, government support to the NRF will come as a block grant without delineating the sub-heads of research support into human resources, consumables, and capital.
- NRF will be given an annual grant that will eventually aim to reach at least 0.1 per cent of GDP (approximately Rs 20,000 crore in current terms).
- The board (chaired by the prime minister) will have full flexibility in determining if and how funds can move between heads. The Foundation will be fully empowered administratively and financially so that it does not face hurdles in funding good projects.
- Detailed financial rules for the operation of the NRF and NRF grants will be periodically updated and, when approved by the NRF Board and reported to Cabinet, will be deemed government approval.
- Wherever explicit flexibility has not been specified, GFR will be followed. Any unspent funds in the initial years will be held towards a corpus for the NRF which will be managed professionally for steady risk-free return.
NRF serves the purpose of human well-being by enhancing research and development
- The NRF is founded on the belief that the advancement of human well-being and progress relies on the creation of new scientific and social knowledge.
- It aims to foster a culture of free inquiry, mentorship and support within India’s universities and institutions of higher education and research.
- It recognises the urgent need to enhance the research and educational ecosystem to match the country’s population.
- Broadly, the NRF has three key missions:
- One, capacity building at universities and colleges;
- two, growing and nurturing excellence in cutting-edge research across disciplines;
- three, supporting research for societal impact.
- Four, these missions will require not just substantial monetary investment but also the trained human resources to enable the optimal use of monetary resources, and an efficient and flexible governance model.
NRF aims to promote research and development:
- The NRF will fund competitive peer-reviewed grant proposals, to individuals or groups of individuals, across all disciplines (including for interdisciplinary research) and across all types of institutions.
- It will help seed, grow, and facilitate research at academic institutions, particularly at universities and colleges, where research capacity and infrastructure is currently in a nascent stage.
- Therefore, The NRF professorships are a vital element for seeding high-quality research in remote universities and colleges.
- And roping in experienced researchers from the best institutions will create a win-win situation for both the researchers, who will not be forced to superannuate and give up their research, and the university or college which will receive financial assistance from the NRF to grow research groups of interest around available experts.
NRF creates an independent knowledge repository for possible future applications
- One of the key missions for India is to recognise, foresee, and promote cutting edge research across disciplines through building capacity and leadership at scale.
- Curiosity driven research will be supported by the NRF as it creates an independent knowledge repository for possible future applications and a foundation for independent work and knowhow within the country.
- Engaging in international collaborations and participating in mega-science projects across disciplines also contributes to research capacity building in experimental sciences and engineering.
- The NRF will increase India’s role and participation in key areas of national and global importance, and in major national and international collaborations, through large-scale mission projects and mega-projects.
- It will also contribute to the active management of such large projects and ensure that the funding and the opportunities are leveraged to the maximum extent possible for the benefit of the country and its researchers.
NRF will also lead to increase the participation of women and other underrepresented groups in research
- The NRF will recommend and support activities and initiatives for increasing the participation of women and other underrepresented groups in research, and recognise outstanding research with awards and national seminars.
- It will bridge and coordinate with researchers, relevant central and state government bodies, and industry partners so that researchers remain connected with each other and with potential collaborators.
- This will help policymakers keep abreast of the latest research breakthroughs in the country and enable these breakthroughs to be brought into the policy or implementation domains.
- Along with it, The Foundation will serve as a high-level think tank for the coordination and short- and long-term planning of research and for the recommendation of key policy initiatives to the government regarding research, innovation, and education.
Conclusion:
- Therefore, The NRF would aim to become a major driver of that progress for India, helping to grow the nation’s economy sustainably, enhance its security, promote well-being and societal progress, and help cement India’s position as a global leader.