NEW DELHI, March 22: The seriousness of the Vajpayee government's swadeshi pledge will be tested by how it legislates to prevent such thefts as the one of basmati rice by an American company.India urgently needs a set of new laws for conserving biodiversity and controlling biopiracy as indicated by the theft of basmati and also intellectual protection legislations that conform to international laws.
For years, environment, food and patent experts have failed to impress upon successive governments the urgency of bringing in laws such as the Plant Protection Act (PVP) which could have prevented theft of the basmati name by the US seed company - "Rice Tec".
While the efforts of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has helped India get an earlier patent granted to turmeric revoked, basmati presents an even greater challenge.
"The experience of getting the turmeric patent revoked is valuable but then it was a bad patent -- basmati would require a coordinated effort by theinter-ministerial group set up for the purpose," said CSIR director general R A Mashelkar.
Meanwhile, the Research Foundation for Science and Technology (RFTSE) a non-governmental organisation has filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking for its intervention to prod the lethargic government to legislate.
Parties to the RFTSE petition include the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and the Jindal Niryat Ltd, which represents rice traders organisations.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
