18 Dec Significance of Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (Source – The Hindu) (GS paper II, III)
Significance of Biological Diversity Act, 2002- Today Current Affairs
Context : Many environment actives and social workers are opposing biological diversity act 2002 when Government introduced some amendment in this Bill in Lok Sabha
Introduction :
This act is called Biodiversity Act in short. This act was enacted by the Indian parliament in 2002 and the objective of this act was to conserve the natural resources as well as environment also.
This act would be implemented in entire India including Kashmir. This act has 65 sections and applicable on forein nationals also. This act was introduced in parliament for fulfilling the obligations of India described in the convention of biological diversity in 2002 ( which is an international organization of 196 countries ) and India had participated in this convention in 2002 . Under the Act, the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has been formed and is headquartered at Chennai..
Convention on Biological Diversity: the objectives of this convention are to conserve biodiversity, to protect earth from environmental degradation and to make acts accordingly . India participated in 2002 in this convention
Provisions of this Act : The Hindu Analysis
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The important provision of this act is the establishment of the state biodiversity board and the power and function of the boards also described in this act
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This act established national biodiversity fund and state biodiversity fund also
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The orders of this act would be under the jurisdiction of Civil Courts
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There are provision of the punishment also (imprisonment of 5 years and fine of 10 Lac ) and the offense is cognizable offense
What is the main concern of this Bill: Today Current Affairs
Many traditional Indian medicine practitioners, seed sector, and industry and researchers demanded for some relief or relaxation in this bill so that they could extract and explore more herbal seeds and medicines .In the favor of these people , the Government introduced the amendment bill which provides the exemptions to registered AYUSH medical practitioners and the people of having certified traditional knowledge on the herbal seeds from giving prior intimation to State biodiversity boards for accessing biological resources for certain purposes.
Even Though Government Ensured that through this amendment there would not be any effect over the effort of government in conserving the biodiversity
But Indian Environmental experts oppose this amendment because they think that these industrialists based on herbal meditation would exploit natural resources beyond the limit for earning profit and in this way they could harm the environment also . Even though the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (LIFE) stated that this new amendment will be beneficial for the Ayush Ministry and through this bill neither local communities would be benefited nor the protection of biodiversity would be strong . The Bill in the current form would pave the way for “bio piracy” and would mean AYUSH manufacturing companies would no longer need to take approvals and thus it would be contradictory to the objectives for which this bill was enacted earlier.
Conclusion and Wayforward : The Hindu Analysis
The Biodiversity Bill is to ensure the protection from environmental degradation as well as protection of biodiversity but simultaneously on the cost of conservation of biodiversity, the development i n the field of medical research and Ayurveda and herbal medicines should not be influenced . Keeping the concerns of the environtaist Government should take appropriate action in this regard and should ensure the development of medical research and the environmental conservation . Government should also be concerned towards the interest of local communities also because in the process of development these communities should not be left behind.
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Plutus IAS Current Affairs Team Member
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