The cornerstones of plant variety protection in India

Traditionally, India—with a high proportion of small farmers—hasbeen cautious in granting IP rights in food and living matter.As India is one of the fastest developing countries, both interms of industry and in its population, the plant breedingand farming industry in India may be expected to play an importantrole in coping with these problems, as the government has realized.For this reason and in order to comply with its obligationsunder Article 27 of the TRIPs Agreement, in 2001 India passedthe Plant Varieties Protection and Farmers' Rights Act (PVPAct). The constraint arising out of a market situation which is determinedmainly by traditional rights of farmers, by the size of thefarms and the dependency of a significant section of the availablerural area, requires a system