6-02-06, 9:18 am

During the visit of US President George Bush to India in the first half of 2006, nuclear and agriculture deals were signed. While the highly publicized nuclear deal between India and US is still being debated, a little known and even less debated pact between both countries is being concluded on agriculture. India and US signed an agriculture deal in early March 2006. The deal is called 'Indo-US Knowledge Initiative On Agriculture Research and Education.' It is said that the goal of this pact is to get a Second Green Revolution in India to promote agricultural biotechnology.

Under this agreement India has already agreed to invest Rs. 400 crore [Rs. 4 billion, or $86 million—ed.] and out of this amount Rs. 300 crore will be used for genetic engineering and biotechnology products. It is not known, whether US will be investing any money in this pact.

Agricultural biotechnology, access to biological resources and Intellectual property rights are the three main features of the Indo-American agriculture initiative and these are inter-related. All the three areas are of crucial interest to US because though technologically rich it does not have the genetic resources, which is essential for biotechnology products. Now it is a well-known fact that Intellectual Property Rights conditions in the form of WTOITRIPS are the powerful instruments devised to gain access to and retain ownership of the vast bio-resources of the developing countries.

No details are available in any form on this Indo-US agriculture deal. Generally agreements between two countries and institutions are put on by the government of India's different ministries to its web-sites. But it is strange that even the copies of the initiative have not been circulated to members of parliament and nor the parliament is informed about its content. It is also not known who were the people from Indian side involved in the process to draft this.

Now the government of India states that a 14-member Joint Board is working on this Indo-US initiative which includes 7 members from each country. The first meeting of board was held on 13-14 February 2006 in New Delhi. The board held detailed deliberations and 4 working groups presented their recommendations for the work plan under the Knowledge Initiative.

Wal Mart, Archer Daniels and Monsanto, three of the worlds' largest multinationals are on the board and it is setting the agenda for collaborative farm research with Indian laboratories and agricultural universities. The Indian side is represented by Agriculture Ministry Bureaucrats and a poultry company.

The government of India has not consulted any of the state governments (though agriculture is a state subject) or asked to convey their opinion, whether such a deal is required to boost production and productivity taking in to consideration the specific climatic and crop based needs of different agri-zones. There was no multi-dimensional discussion with our major stakeholders in agricultural sector like National Academy of Agriculture Sciences (NAAS), various Agricultural Research Organizations, Standing Committee of Parliament on Agriculture, eminent academicians and National Fanners Organizations.

Recently in Delhi a round table discussion, consisting of All India Kisan Sabha, Bharat Krishak Samaj, MP Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, Gene Campaign, INSAF representatives, Agricultural scientists and members of parliament debated the impact of this agricultural deal on the future of agriculture and food security and sovereignty.

The participants were much critical of the various provisions of the Indo-US knowledge initiative on agricultural research and education which were highly controversial and anti-farmers.

Following are the points of the deal presented for public awareness: There is no mention in the deal of key issues of genetic engineering, like respecting crops in their centers of origin, of protecting socio-economic interests of rural and tribal communities and implementing a regime for liability and redress incase something goes wrong with a genetically engineered crop or fish or animal.

Developing drought tolerant plants is said to be one of the principal aims of the research program. It is not clear how the US collaboration will help in achieving this aim. The international agricultural research system called the CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) has a special one-point program to develop drought tolerance, so why are we not collaborating with this public sector institution?

Through the Agriculture Knowledge Initiative, the Americans have asked for unhindered access to the rich biodiversity in India's gene banks. Genetic resources are a very valuable economic resource in the era of biotechnology. The Americans have few economically useful genetic resources.

On what terms and conditions will our genetic resources be accessed? Will the terms and conditions of the CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) be respected? America is a notable dissenter to the CBD and has not ratified it.

There are no provisions in the agriculture deal for standard CBD features like Prior Informed Consent, Material Transfer Agreement and Benefit Sharing. All this is part of Indian policy and legislation, the National Biodiversity Act and the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act. In the absence of such provisions India's considerable genetic wealth may become available to the Americans for free under the guise of this agricultural agreement.

How will the products of research and the profits be shared? Will benefit sharing include technology transfer and payment for gene use as provided for in the Indian legislation?

Will the agriculture pact enable India to have free access to the public sector technology and research in US universities and research institutions? Will privately owned US technologies be made available to India for free or at concessional rates? If we have to pay market rates, then what is the point of a deal?

How are farmers going to benefit from programs of the agriculture deal? When a new variety is produced from the Indian genetic material, will it be freely available to them?

Will the improved varieties be made available to farmers through public research institutions as done during the Green Revolution or will they be given to the private sector for commercialization?

The Green Revolution was a publicly owned technology. There were no Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) but for the so called 'Second Green Revolution' the Board of the agriculture pact has discussed issues of intellectual property rights on products developed from the research programs. There is lack of clarity on key issues:

If a database of Indian genetic material is compiled through the collaborative research, will the ownership remain with India?

How will the Intellectual Property Rights be granted on outcome of research using Indian genetic resources?

In case of conflict over IPRs, is it clear that the Indian law will apply?

Will technology and knowledge gained through the collaborative research be freely accessible to the Indian scientific community?

The Americans along with Agbiotech multinationals like Monsanto have been lobbying for a change In India's IPR laws to introduce patents on seeds and genes and do away with the provisions for protecting Farmer's Rights.

India's unique IPR law called the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act (PPVFR), the only law in the world which grants legal rights to farmers, will come under threat from American pressure.

There is pressure from corporations nationally and internationally, to remove the ban on the terminator technology. The development of the popularly termed `terminator' or sterile seed technology will finish off any concept of farmers rights and reduce the farmer to a helpless consumer of the company's seeds. There are apprehensions that the ban on terminator technology in Indian law might be removed under US pressure.

The M. S. Swaminathan Task Force on Agbiotechnology was set up to provide the policy framework for agriculture biotechnology in India. The report of the Task Force has clearly recommended that India's policy on transgenic crops should be sensitive to biodiversity conservation and the social- economic context of our composite agrarian system, which essentially means that the rights of farmers and their livelihoods must not be jeopardized by any genetically engineered products.

The provisions of the Indo-US agriculture deal run counter to the recommendations of the Swaminathan Task Force report. The people need to know what will prevail.

The research agenda for the agriculture deal encompasses genetically engineered crops and animals. It is not clear, who has decided which crops, which traits to engineer? What are the advantages of genetically engineered fish, for instance, as compared to the considerable environmental risks associated with it?

Through the Agriculture Knowledge Initiative, the USA have asked for unhindered access to rich biodiversity in India's gene banks. Genetic resources are a very valuable economic resource in the era of biotechnology. The Americans have few economically useful genetic resources.

The content of Indo-US pact, must be thoroughly debated and approved by parliament, before any decision is taken on its implementation.

Since Agriculture is a state subject, all matters related to it should be decided in consent with state legislatures before final approval of parliament.

Informed consultations with the farmers organizations, scientific community and elected representatives must precede any decisions taken in the field of agriculture.

Speaking in round table, Executive Chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj Dr. Krishan Bir Choudhary termed the Indo-US Agreement a cutthroat maneuver. This agreement will pave the way to our Scientists to work at the dictates of MNCs and cater their economic interests. AIKS General Secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan said if this so called Knowledge initiative is allowed then MNCs will get access legally our Germ Plasm Bank of indigenous crop varieties and get them patented in their names. Indian Agricultural Universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendra's and Research Centers will act as an extension counters to promote the American MNCs vested economic interests.

In view of the large number of uncertainties and lack of transparency with respect to 'Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture' the farmer organizations, academicians, political parties and mass organization must raise their voice to protect the interests of Indian agricultural sector. The Government of India also should call a meeting of all concerned to review the various clauses of the pact.

--From the New Age, the weekly publication of the Communist Party of India