RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Dec.21: The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPVFRA), a statutory body set up under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India has notified Birsa Agricultural University (BAU) as a centre which can be approached by any person, group of persons (whether actively engaged in farming or not) or government or non-governmental organisation to claim any compensation he wishes to seek as a benefit to be shared with the community from the region on the variety that is expected to have been developed using the plant genetic resources conserved by the community.
This notification has been published in the Gazette of India.
Such claims of individuals and groups from the entire Jharkhand will be received and processed at this centre. Claims related to field crops, fruits, vegetables, spices, flower crops or plantation should be addressed to the Director of Research, BAU.
Claims related to trees should be addressed to the Chairman, Department of Basic Science and Humanities, Faculty of Forestry also in addition to the Director of Research. Several agricultural universities have been notified as centres for entertaining such claims for their respective zones.
BAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Onkar Nath Singh has expressed pleasure over notifying BAU as the Centre for this purpose and said that it would pave the path for accelerated disposal of compensation claims of Jharkhand farmers who have preserved large numbers of plant genetic resources for centuries.
