24
Nov
Process for Amendments to the PPV&FR Act 2001-Intervention of Union Agri Minister Sought
| Process for Amendments to the PPV&FR Act 2001 – Your intervention sought |
| ASHA Kisan Swaraj <asha.kisanswaraj@gmail.com> | 24 November 2025 at 09:22 |
| To: agrimin.india@gmail.com Cc: chairperson-ppvfra@nic.in | |
| To:Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India. Subject: Process for Amendments to the PPV&FR Act 2001 Dear Sir, Namaste. This is with regard to the process that is underway to make amendments to Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act 2001 and related Rules. We write to you to share our concerns and to seek your intervention in the matter. As you are kindly aware, India’s sui generis legislation was evolved and enacted through one of the most widespread consultative processes around any legislation in the country. The PPV&FR Act 2001 is in alignment with India’s commitments not just under the WTO TRIPS Agreement, but also the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). Since India is not a party to the UPOV Convention, which is wholly pro-corporate breeders, and not pro-farmers, the country is not required to bring its domestic law ‘on par with UPOV’. At present, some sections of the PPV&FR Act 2001 are also in alignment with sub-provisions of Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP), which India voted in favour of in the UN General Assembly in 2018. This sui generis statute of PPV&FR Act 2001 emerged from civil society’s intense work on its framework of farmers’ rights and seed freedoms and in situ conservation. Despite having a unique legislation with regard to farmers’ seed rights and freedoms globally, officials/other individuals associated with the PPV&FR Authority created under the Act are engaging in processes that are causing concern, to propose amendments to the legislation. Framing of wrong concepts and approaches for the amendments being proposed, reflecting the sinister nature of the current processes: India consciously chose a sui generis framework for this legislation. However, the justification being provided for some of the amendments being proposed, rationalising the proposals as harmonisation with UPOV, is highly objectionable. This “harmonisation with UPOV” is a sinister agenda of industry lobbies. It could also be the Government of India’s kowtowing to pressure from the USA and other countries in the trade deals being negotiated. However, this is simply unacceptable, and there is absolutely no need for India to harmonise its unique legislation with UPOV. Further, proposals are being discussed to do away with benefit-sharing with farmers, expectably with the kind of processes being run. We object to this strongly. Time Gap and opaque process: The Committee was constituted in December, 2024. Information of its constitution or the process of work has not been shared readily in the public domain. After 10 months of its constitution, this Committee came up with some draft amendments which were shared only in the form of a power point presentation. No official communication was created with participants. Details are not available on how this draft was developed and why it took 10 months. Closed and Industry-oriented processes adopted by the Committee: The Committee held three consultations, including one with the seed industry, even though seed industry association members are already part of the Committee. These repetitive consultations with seed industry associations, which are the threats to seed conservation and farmers rights’ is a serious concern. The consultation period with civil society representatives was a mere 3 hours, that too in only one session with few seed conservationists. This inclusion of some civil society members in a recent hybrid-mode consultation was at the very last minute, as an afterthought, after some questioning about the consultative processes accidentally. It is not clear what other amendments are being discussed, because no information is being shared proactively and transparently. The amendments that are being proposed are also emerging from the industry associations, whose representatives are sitting in the same Committee that is looking into finalising the amendments to be suggested to the Government of India. Suggestions made by civil society representatives were not even recorded or presented, even though written suggestions were provided in the past too, and before the consultation. It was mentioned that individuals can write, but no further details have been provided. Within the limited participation, almost 90% of the participants did not get a chance to speak, as the Chairman kept interfering with submissions being made. No meaningful engagement possible without transparency and widespread publicity to consultations: Civil society members were called at the very last minute to join the consultation. The handouts that were given to a handful of civil society members who were present in a recent consultation meeting organised by the Authority did not have amendments proposed. Not sharing all materials beforehand, and running ad-hoc processes is a mockery of the democratic deliberations that are needed on such an important legislation. Meaningful engagement is possible only if all the proposals from all quarters are put up transparently on the Authority’s website, and widespread consultations organised. After 20 years of the Act in force, given that it is a farmers’ rights law, the process of consultation with farmers ought to have been institutionalised through the Authority by now. No review and evaluation of the implementation of the legislation so far: No call has been made to the public inviting citizens to present their feedback on the statutory schema and implementation of the provisions of the Act. Nor has there been any review or evaluation commissioned for the amendments to emerge from grounded experiences. Composition of the Committee to suggest amendments: To begin with, there are serious questions around a Committee that was constituted by the Authority in its 39th Meeting on 3rd December 2024, to suggest amendments to the Act. Surprisingly, two seed industry association representatives have been included in the Committee. However, farmer union representatives and civil society representatives, who have been at the forefront of seed conservation and protection of farmers’ rights, were not included. Further, it would be a better idea to have another Chairperson for the Committee since the current chairman has been embroiled in the past in controversies related to heading institutions funded by seed industry entities, reflecting a conflict of interest. Meanwhile, India’s civil society has actively and critically engaged with this statute for many years now, reflected in the participation of several senior development activists in the very creation of this legislation in the late 1990s and early 2000s, in addition to subsequent implementation of the Act and its Rules (this is reflected in the genome saviour awards presented each year, as well as registration of farmers’ varieties, multiple rounds of correspondence and engagement between civil society and the Authority on different provisions etc.). Non-inclusion of farmer union and civil society organisations’ representatives in the Committee indicates a serious bias and most probably a sinister move to restrict farmers’ rights. Why is PPV&FR Authority favouring the seed industry, when this legislation is farmers’ rights-centric? We write to you to express our serious concerns with regard to the process adopted, especially the wide berth being provided to the seed industry and its lobbyists to influence changes to the farmers’ rights-centric unique legislation that India has in its PPV&FR Act 2001. The Government of India will run the avoidable risk of facing stiff opposition from farmers of the country in another massive resistance movement if this pro-corporate and anti-farmer process for amending the PPV&FR Act is not suspended immediately, to make the process inclusive, transparent and democratic. We seek your urgent intervention in the matter. Thank you. Sincerely, Kavitha Kuruganti Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj) OTHER SIGNATORIES TO THE LETTER INCLUDE: Dr Suman Sahai, Gene Campaign Devinder Sharma, Agriculture and Food Policy Analyst Dr Sarath Babu Balijepalli, Scientists for Genetic Diversity (Errata: in the letter sent to the Hon’ble Minister, it was written as “Scientists for Biodiversity” by mistake. Error regretted) Dr Dinesh Abrol, Delhi Science Forum Dr Narasimha Reddy Donthi, Seed Campaign Kapil Shah, Beej Adhikar Manch Sridhar Radhakrishnan, Sustainable Agriculture Activist Dr. Soma Marla, Retd. Principal Scientist (Genomics), ICAR NBPGR, New Delhi; Formerly Assoc. Professor (Bioinformatics) Virginia St. Univ., Blacksburg, USA Yudhvir Singh, BKU Dr K Varaprasad, Former Director, ICAR-IIOR Dr Sudhiranjan Dhua, Former Principal Scientist, CRRI Dr Ashok Dhawale, President, All India Kisan Sabha Rajan Kshirsagar and Ravula Venkaiah, All India Kisan Sabha Copy to: Dr Trilochan Mohapatra, Chairperson, PPV&FR Authority Endorsed by: Dr Aishwarya J, Chennai, Researcher, IIT Madras Dr Ali Ahammad Taher Hasan, Rampurhat, Birbhum, West Bengal, Librarian Dr Angshuman Sarma, Delhi, Researcher on Agroecology and Food Sovereignty Dr Chinmoy Das, West Bengal, Landraces conservator Dr D. Narasimha Reddy, Hyderabad, Retired Professor of Economics and Farmers’ Rights Activist Dr E A S Sarma, Visakhapatnam. A retired civil servant Dr Omkar Ashok Nirmal, Chiplun, Landraces conservator Dr Poyyamoli Gopalsamy, Pondicherry, Agroecologist and climate resilience specialist Dr Prahalad Rangan, Dusi Village, Kancheepuram District, TN, Technologist Dr R. Senthil Raj, Salem, Tamil Nadu, Breeder Seed Production Dr Rajendra Amulakhabhai Khimani, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Vice Chancellor Dr Ramesh Arora, Mohali, Punjab, Ph D, Prof of Agriculture, SGGSWU, Fatehgarh Sahib Dr S Rajendran, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, Economist Dr S Seethalakshmi, Hyderabad, Telangana, Independent Researcher and Activist Dr Sammy, Sonitpur, Farmer Rights’ Researcher and Social Work Educator Dr Seema Purushothaman, Bengaluru, Economist in Action Research Dr Sibnath Ray, Hyderabad, Biotechnologist Dr Sivasakthivel, Cuddalore district, Tamilnadu, Environmental scientist, ecologist Dr Sultan Ismail, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Ecologist Dr Uma Shankari, Venkatramapuram, Tirupati dt. AP., Organic farmer, farmer rights activist Dr Vijay Rukmini Rao, Mynampally Village, Nalgonda Dist, Telangana, Farmer’s Rights Activist Dr Vikram Popatlal Patel, Goraj, Ta. Vaghodia, Dist. Vadodara, Gujarat, Medical Doctor working in rural area and for betterment of farmers, to promote organic farming Dr Vinod Kumar Dilawari, Ludhiana, Ecologist; PhD Dr Virender Singh Lather, Karnal, Haryana, Genetics & Cytogenetics, Plant Breeder Kedar Sirohi, President, Kisan Prakosth, Congress Party Madhya Pradesh Anvesh Reddy Sunketa, Chairman, Telangana Kisan Congress Abhishek Kashyap: Student Prashant Laxmibai Madhukar Nimse, Nashik, Maharashtra: Advocate Ainthunai Velusamy, Sathyamangalam Tk., Erode dist, Tamil Nadu: Organic Farming co-ordinator, Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Association All India Kisan Sabha, Ajoy Bhavan Indrajit Gupta Marg New Delhi: Farmers Organisation Ananthoo, Chennai: Safe Food Alliance Anil Kumar, Kohabari, Barachatti, Gaya, Bihar: Landraces conservator Anjana Mangalagiri, Bangalore, Educationist Aruna Rodrigues, Mhow Cantt. Madhya Pradesh: Development Economics and Marketing professional Arundhati Dhuru NAPM, Lucknow Uttar Pradesh: Farmers’ Rights activist Ashish Gupta, Delhi, Sustainable Food Systems Expert Ashok Kumar Dahiya, Vpo Halalpur District Sonipat Haryana: Farmer Asokan M, Mannargudi, Thiruvarur, TamilNadu: Retired Additional Director of Agriculture, State Department of Agriculture Balraj, அவினாசி திருப்பூர Bharat Mansata, Maharashtra: Ecologist Bizeth Banerjee, Hyderabad, Telangana: Retd. Academic Cenmichon Khodang, Manipur: Agricultural Economist Chandra K, Karnataka, Farmer Chandrasekaran Chinnasamy, Dharapuram: Natural farmer Chandru Chawla, Mumbai: Teacher, Citizen Chejarla Anjaneyulu, Andhra Pradesh: Diploma in Agriculture Chinnamani, Tamil Nadu Dahirabegum, Thiruppalai, Madurai, Tamilnadu: Farmer Deepa S, Bangalore: Farmers’ family Deivasigamani , N. Pudupalayam, Nallur, Tiruppur, Tamilnadu: Farmers’ rights activist Dharmesh Patel, Mumbai, Maharashtra: Climate researcher, Computer science engineer Dhivakar Prasanna P, Kavuthampalayam, Tirupur, Tamilnadu: Engineering graduate, Agriculturist, Organic Farmer Dinesh Kumar Sharma, Nithari Village, Noida: राष्ट्रीय महासचिव, भारतीय किसान यूनियन (अराजनितिक मंच) रजीo Easan Murugasamy, Tirupur, Tamil Nadu: Advocate Ekadashi Nandi, Bhubaneswar, Khordha, Odisha: Ecologist Elango S, A. Mettupalayam, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu: Natural Farmer, Chartered Accountant G.Subash, Avinashi, Tirupur dist, Tamilnadu: Farmer Ganesh, Coimbatore: Civil engineer Gayathree Krishna, Chennai: Ecologist Gouranga Ch. Mohapatra, Bhubaneswar, Odisha: Development Consultant, Human Rights and Public Health Specialist; Convener of CSFHR and Jana Swasthya Abhiyan Goutham Reddy, Chennai: Farmer Gudipati Ramakrishna, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh: Ecologist Gurumarimuthu M, Srivilliputhur, Virudhunagar: Engineer Hari Sankar Rout, Paburia, Kandhamal, Odisha: Landraces Conservator Illiyas KP, Kozhikode: Farmer Jayadip Sangani, Amreli: Plant Breeder Jayesh Lalka, Bhuj, Gujarat: Associated with an organisation working for conservation of Traditional Seeds Jayvendra Yadav, Pradhanpur, Mau, Uttar Pradesh Jotsna Iyer, Chennai: Research Engineer K Nagarajan, Bangalore, Karnataka: IT professional, involved in organic farming K. Jothi, Pennadam, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu: Social Worker Kanakasabai, Cuddalore/Virudhachalam, Tamil nadu: Self reliant lifestyle Kanneganti Ravi, Hyderabad: Farmers’ Rights Activist Karthik, Tamil Nadu: Indigenous Seed Conserver Karthik Gunasekar, Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Eco-social changemaker, B. Tech from National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli Karthikeyan K, Ariyalur: Junior Assistant Kathyayini Chamaraj, Bengaluru, Karnataka: NGO head Kavitha, Vadambacheri: Msc B.Ed. doing organic farming Kirti Makhija, Ahmedabad, Gujarat: Environmental Professional Kirti Mangrulkar, Nagpur: Farmer Kulbhushan Upmanyu, V. Kamla. Distt. Chamba. Himachal Pradesh: Farmer and environment protection worker. Also into indigenous seeds conservation Kuldeepak B Deshpande, Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra: Sustainable/ Natural Farming Kunal Brahmakshtriya , Ahmedabad Lakshmanan, Periyanesalur, Tamil Nadu: Farmers’ Rights Activist Lakshmanan N, Srirengapuram, Theni District, Tamil Nadu: Horticulture Farmer Lilly Gracy.S: Engineer M Mohammed Imran, Hyderabad, Telangana: Plant breeder and promoting regenerative agriculture Maansi Verma, Delhi: Lawyer, Founder – Maadhyam, a civic engagement initiative Madhavi Kolte, Pune: Farmer Manish Hanumangarh, Rajasthan: Agronomist Manoj Kumar, Bangalore, Karnataka: Project Manager, Sustainable Agriculture – for a Spices Company Manu Moudgil, SAS Nager, Punjab: Independent Journalist Mayavel Rengasamy, Perambalur Dist., Tamilnadu: Farmer Md. Lothib Uddin, Labpur, Birbhum dist, West Bengal: Management Mohammad Ishak, Haldwani, District Nainital, Uttarakhand: Social Worker Monika Rajkumari, Bengaluru: Corporate employee Muntha Pavan Kumar, Yeleswaram, Andhra Pradesh: Ecologist Ritash Bangalore, Karnataka: Writer, Educator & Research Advisor Nagoor Meeran K, Thiruppalai, Madurai, Tamilnadu: Organic Farmer Nandikanti Sai Kumar, Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Telangana: Teacher, Social Activist Narendra Patel, Narsinghpur: Farmer Nayaz Khan A, Ajjampura Town & Taluk, Chikmagalur District, Karnataka: Ecologist Neel Kamal, Bathinda, Punjab: Journalist P Iyyappan, Chennai, Tamil Nadu P. Kalidasan, Tiruppur: Farmer Panchabakesan, Ariyalur: Geologist Pandiaraj, Dindigul, Tamilnadu: Engineer Parthasarathy S A, Bangalore, Karnataka: Nature & Sustainability Educator Pawan Kumar, Dehradun: Grassroots professional Prabhakar Adhikari, Koraput, Odisha: Social worker and organic farming promoter Pratap Kande Veera, Mancherial, Telangana: Farmers’ Rights Activist R K Meghwal, Distt Nagaur, Rajasthan: Farmer Raghunatha Sethupathy, Tamilnadu: Farmer Rajani G Rai, Bengaluru: Farmer and researcher in environment Rajiv Mishra “Bhaskar”, Buxar, Bihar: Writer, Holistic Farmer, Educationist Rajiv S, Thiruthuraipoondi, Thiruvarur dt, Tamil Nadu: Landraces conservator Raju Parasuram, Ettapparajapuram, Theni dist, Tamilnadu: Retired teacher. Doing natural farming. Rakesh Kumar Pandey, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh: Promoter – Aavartansheel Kheti Ramasubramanian, Chennai, Tamil Nadu: Sustainability Consultant Ramesh, Kurinjipadi: Farmer Ramit Basu, Faridabad: Local Government and Decentralised Planning activist. Ratikanta Nayak, Bengaluru: Agroecologist/ Bio-technologist Rega Selvakumar, Chinnamanur: Natural Organic Store S Janakiraman, Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu S Venkatesan, Vettuvanam village, Vellore District, Tamil Nadu: Farmer and FPO chairman S. Sakthivel, Vathistapuram, Tittagudi, Cuddalore, Tamilnadu: Organic Farmer Padmashri Sabarmatee, Odisha: Conservation enthusiast and promoter Sanjay Kumar, Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan: Botanist Sanjay Rajesh Gupta, Mumbai: Advocate Saraswati Kavula, Rangareddy District, Telangana: Farmer, Environmentalist & Farmers Rights Activist Saravanan, Tiruppur: Solar power plants Satheeshkumar, Tamilnadu: Agriculture Sehjo Singh, Dist.Udaipur, Rajasthan: Climate Convener Selvakumar, Chinnamanur: Natural farmer Selvam, Arachalur: Farmer Shakkthi, Tamilnadu: Biodiversity in Agriculture Sheelu Francis, Kolathur, Chennai, Tamilnadu: Farmers’ Rights Activist Sheik Abdul Safur, Bodinayakanur, Theni district, Tamilnadu: Farmers’ rights activist Shivarudra M, Mysore : Farmer Shrikant Mohanta, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh: Agriculturist Siva Prasad Bhairi, Byri, Srikakulam: Farmer SMM Ali, Hyderabad, Telangana: Horticulture Farmer Soumik Banerjee, Madhya Pradesh: Landraces Conservator Sreekireddy Niranjan, Gudur, SPSR Nellore, Andhra Pradesh: Farmer Subhadra RN, Telangana: Farmer, BSc, BEd, MA, MBA Subhash Saini, Bhusawar, Bharatpur, Rajasthan: Supervisor Sukumar, Kothandaramapuram: Engineering, Farmer Suma Josson, Nagpur, Maharashtra: Film Maker on Farmers’ Rights Sunil Doshi, Bhavnagar, Gujarat Sushil Kumar Dash, Kolabira, Jharsuguda, Odisha: Founder, SEWA Swamy Elanjelian, Raigad District, Maharashtra State: Farmers’ Rights Activist Syed Ghani Khan, Kirugavalu, Malavalli tq, Mandya dist, Karnataka: Traditional seeds saver & Genome Saviour Awardee Thilak Raj S, Chennai: Social worker, farmer rights activists, naturalist and experiential educator TK Jayaprakash, Madappally College, Kozhikode dist, Kerala: Farmers’ Rights Activist Tripati Panda, Kashipur, Rayagada, Odisha: Ecologist/Social worker Vaishali Gadgil, Pune: Organic Farmer, Sustainability AI Founder Venkatesan, Andapattu Village, Tindivanam Taluk, Villupuram District, Tamilnadu: Founder of Tindivanam Organic Farmers Federation and Organic Farmer Vinoth Kumar, Idukki Dist, Kerala: Cardamom Farmer Vishal Vikram Singh, Manikpur Kote, District Ghazipur, UP: Sustainability Consultant — — ====================================Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj)FOOD – FARMERS – FREEDOMwww.kisanswaraj.inwww.indiaforsafefood.in | |
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