Introduction

India is one of the twelve megadiversity countries of the world and is considered as a major centre of domestication of crop plants. Out of this rich biodiversity, the ancient farming communities from time immemorial had grown and developed a rich cornucopia of crop plants through selection and adaptations. India has over 45000 species of plants and fungi, representing 11 percent of the world’s flora. The plant genetic resources provide essential food, fodder, fibre and other utilities for the civilization to sustain.

Protection of Plant Varieties in India

To provide the establishment of an effective system for the protection of plant varieties, the rights of farmers and plant breeders  and to encourage the development of new varieties of plants it had been  considered necessary to recognise and protect the rights of the farmers in respect of their contribution made at any time in conserving, improving and making available the plant genetic resources for the development of the new plant varieties. Moreover, to accelerate agricultural development it is necessary to protect the plant breeders’ rights to stimulate investment for research and development for the development of the new plant varieties. Such a protection is likely to facilitate the growth of seed industry which will ensure the availability of right quality seeds and planting materials to the Farmers. India being a signatory of Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), adopted a sui generis system for plant variety protection. To give effect to the aforesaid objectives, the Protection of Plant Verities and Farmers’ Rights bill was introduced in the parliament of India.
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Bill having being passed by both the houses of the Parliament received the assent of the President of India on 30th October, 2001.
Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority was established by the Government of India in exercise of power conferred by Sub Section (1) of the Section 3 of the PPV&FR Act,2001 by Gazette  Notification (S.O. 1589-E) on 11th November,2005. The PPV&FR Authority operates under the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of  India.
Meanwhile, two branch offices : one at Guwahati and the other at Ranchi were established during 2011.The Establishment of the branch offices were  notified in  the Gazette of India vide S.O. No. 929 (E) dated April 27.04.2012. .The  states of Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh   come under its territorial limit of Guwahati branch office, while the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Chattishgarh, Orissa and Andamand and Nicober Islands  come under the territorial limit of the Ranchi branch. Another four branch offices of the Authority will be opened shortly in the country.
The objectives of the Branch Offices are to facilitate the registration of Varieties (New, Extant and Essentially Derived Varieties ) in the PPV&FR Authority and to encourage the farmers for conserving the plant genetic resources and also cataloguing of all varieties (Released & Notified/Traditional varieties/Varieties in public domain/varieties which are not notified or under sale as Truthfully  labelled seed) in the territorial limits of the branch offices.  All applications received from these states are required to be routed through the respective branch offices.

Role of Guwahati Branch Office:

As per 11th EFC Memo, main objectives of  opening  of this Branch Office at suitable location is to maximize access of interested groups i.e. farmers and seed industry, to facilitate the registration of plant varieties and for effective implementation of the PPV & FRA Act, 2001.
In order to achieve the above objectives, Guwahati Branch office shall discharge the following functions:

1. Receiving applications for Registration of Plant Varieties from the eights states of  North Eastern Region
2. Preliminary processing of application forms before forwarding to the head office of PPV&FRA for action.
3.  Under Section 13(3) a copy of the National Registry of Plant Varieties is kept at the Branch Office.
4. Monitoring the DUS Test Centres.
5. Issuing the certified copies of any entry in the National Register of Varieties.
6. Allowing public inspection of National Register of Plant Varieties on payment of fees.
7.  Popularizing the Plant Variety Genome Savior Award.
8. Assisting the PPV & FR Authority in cataloguing all varieties of Plants within its Jurisdiction
9. Assisting the Authority in collecting statistics with regard to plant varieties including the contribution of any person at any time in the evaluation or development of any Plant Variety in India.
10. Assisting the Authority in documenting ,indexing and cataloguing of Farmers’ Varieties.

1. To establish an effective system for the protection of plant varieties, the rights of farmers and plant breeder and to encourage the development of new varieties of plants.
2. To recognise and protect the rights of the farmers in respect of their contribution made at any time in conserving, improving and making available the plant genetic resources for the development of the new plant varieties. 
3. To accelerate agricultural development in the country, protect the plant breeders’ rights, stimulate investment for research and development for the development of the new plant varieties.              
4. To facilitate the growth of seed industry which will ensure the availability of right quality seeds and planting materials to the Farmers

1. Registration of New, Extant and Essentially derived varieties.
2.  Promote & encourage the development of New Plant varieties.
3. Protect the rights of the farmers and the breeders.
4. Indexing of varieties registered under this Act.
5. Documentation, indexing and cataloguing of Farmers’ varieties.
6. Ensuring seed availability with the provisions of Compulsory Licencing.
7. Recognizing and rewarding farmers and community.
8. Maintenance of the National Register of Plant Varieties.
9. Update of database of all plants varieties.
10. Maintenance of National Gene Bank.
11. Developing DUS test criteria.
12. Formulation of general, specific and  special test guidelines

1. Breeders’ Right:  Breeders will have the exclusive rights to produce, sell , market, distribute, import or export the protected variety. Breeders can appoint agents/licensee and may exercise for civil remeady in case of infringement of rights.
2. Researchers’ Right: Researchers can use any of the registered variety under the Act for conducting experiment or research. However, authorization of the breeder is required where repeated use of such variety as a parental line is necessary for commercial production of such other newly developed variety.
3. Farmers’ Rights:  Farmers have right to save, use, exchange, share and sell farm produce of a protected variety, except sale of branded seed. Farmers are recognized as breeders, conservers. Preservers and cultivators of traditional varieties. Farmers have the rights to register the  extant varieties, including farmer’s varieties with exemption  from payment of fees.

1. Form Charges
2. Application Form Processing Charges:  Rs. 200/-
   
3. Registration Charges:

Annual fee shall be determined of the basis of declaration given by the registered breeder or agent or licence regarding the sales value of the seeds of the variety registered under the Act during the previous year and royalty , if any, received during the previous year from the sale proceed of seeds of the registered variety and verified by the Authority.

Who can help in the process of registration?

1. Krishi Vignan Kendra
2. State Agricultural Universities
3. State Bio- Diversity Board
4. Bio- Diversity Management Committee
5. State Agricultural Departments
6. NGO associated with agricultural development
7. Farmers’ Cell of the PPV & FR Authority.

DUS Test Centres: Authority is maintaining and funding 57 DUS test centres for different crops with a mandate of example varieties and generation of database for DUS description as per DUS guidelines of respective crops. The list of DUS centres is available on the official website of the Authority.
The duration of protection of registered varieties is different for different  crops. Which are as follows :

1. For trees and vines   - 18 years.
2. For other crops        - 15 years.
3. For extant varieties   - 15 years.

Pre requisite for filling and application from for registration

1. Denomination assigned to such variety
2. Accompanied by an affidavit that variety does not contain any gene or gene sequences involving terminator technology.
3. Complete passport data of parental lines with its geographical location in India and all such information relating to the contribution, if any, of any farmers(s), village, community institution or organization etc in breeding, evolving or developing the variety.
4. Characteristics of variety with description for Novelty, Distinctiveness, Uniformity and stability.
5. A declaration that genetic materials used for breeding of such variety has been lawfully acquired.
6. A breeder or other person making application for registration shall disclose the use of genetic material conserved by any tribal or rural families for improvement of such variety.

Application Form: The application for registration of a variety is to be made in form prescribed by the PPV & FR Authority.

1. Form I-   for registration of new variety, extant variety and farmers’ variety.
2. Form II- for essentially derived variety and transgenic variety.
3. Technical questionnaire attached with form 1 and form 2 for detailed information of the concerned variety.

Guidelines for submission of application:

1. Application in triplicate must be in writing and signed by the applicant in their representative Application should be submitted in hand till farther notice.
2. Application will be received only on Monday to Thursday from 10:00 hours to 15:00 hours. No application will be accepted on Saturday and Sunday and public Holidays.
3. Every application must have name of the applicant, their address and nationality as well as address of service of their agent (if applicable)
4. a person can file up to maximum of the application per day
5. Until otherwise notified in the plant variety journal of India, each application should be accomplished with an application charges of Rs. 200/- each by demand draft drawn in favour of “The Registrar PPV & FRA New Delhi
6. The Application will be received on “First come First Serve” basis
7. No application will be received after business hours.
8. On successful submission of the application, The applicant will received and acknowledge slip.
9. after submission of application it will be processed according to the provisions of the rule 29(2) of the PPV & FR Rule, 2003
10. After depositing the Stipulated Fees for4 conducting DUS tests, the office of the registrar shall issue receipt and number which shall be used for all references including the checking of the status of application on line.

1. Farmers’ varieties can be registered in the like manner as any other category of varieties.
2. A farmer, group of farmer or community may apply for the registration of a farmers’ variety.
3. There is no fee for the application and any other proceedings for the farmers.
4. A form has to be filled by the applicant and the complete form along with the seeds of the variety are to be submitted to the PPV & FR Authority.

Awards, Rewards and Recognition of farmers: The PPV & FR Authority confers the Plant Genome Savior Community Award, Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Rewards and & Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Recognitions every year. Plant Genome Savior Community Award is awarded to the community of farmers/farming community based organizations who have a long track record for conserving plant agro-biodiversity which is open to all Indian group of farmers, community of farmers, particularly the tribal and rural communities engaged in conservation, improvement and preservation of genetic resources of economic plants and their wild relatives particularly in the areas identified as agro bio-diversity hotspots. There shall be maximum of five awards in a year, consisting of a cash of Rs. Ten lakh each, a citation and a memento. The Authority also invites applications for the “Plant Genome Savior “Farmer Reward” & “Farmer Recognition” from the farmers engaged in the conservation of genetic resources of landraces and wild relatives of economic plants and their improvement through selection and preservation and the material so selected and preserved has been used as donors of gene in varieties registerable under the PPV&FR Act, 2001 (53 of 2001).  There shall be maximum of 10 rewards (comprising of citation, memento and cash of Rs.One lakh each) and 20 recognitions (consisting of a citation and memento) in a year.   It is essential for the applicants to forward their application through Chairperson or Secretary of the Concerned Panchayat Biodiversity Management Committee or Concerned District Agricultural Officer or Director of Research of concerned State Agriculture University or concerned District Tribal Development Office. Farmers whose applications are shortlisted for Reward and Recognition shall be required to deposit specified quantity of seeds or propagating material, in due time.

Guwahati Branch Office of the Authority: The Establishment of the branch offices were  notified in  the Gazette of India vide S.O. No. 929 (E) dated April 27.04.2012. After joining of Dr. A.C. Sarma as the founder Deputy Registrar of Guwahati Branch and other supporting staff the office was made operational with the space provided by Assam Agricultural University in its Khanapara Campus. The branch Office of the Authority was formally inaugurated on 15th Nov. 2012  by Shri Nilamani Sen Deka, Hon’ble Minister for Agriculture, Horticulture , Food Processing and Parliamentary Affairs, Govt. of Assam in the presence of Dr. P.L. Gautam, Chairperson and Dr. R.C. Agrawal, Registrar General of the Authority, Dr. K.M. Bujarbaruah,Vice Chancellor, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat  , Scientists, Director of Research, Director of Extension, Chief scientists of Assam Agricultural University,   Agriculture and Horticulture Officers of Govt of Assam, ICAR and TRA Scientists and farmers.
Creation of awareness on various provisions of the PPV&FR Act, 2001 amongst the farmers, scientists, government officials, public & private sector and NGOs had been the top priority of the branch office.  Campaign, training cum awareness programmes was organised by the Authority at various parts of the entire North Eastern Regions.
In addition to creation of awareness, the Deputy Registrar , Guwahati   also participated in  various  seminars workshops and exhibitions during the years including the exhibition in Interactive fair for Biodiversity from 1st Oct-2012 to 19th Oct., 2012 held in conjugation with Conference of the Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (COP 11) at Hyderabad, 100 Indian Science Congress   at Kolkata  etc. The awareness programmes witnessed the participation of farmers and scientists agriculture officers  from the region. The Chairperson, Registrar General and Registrar (Farmers’ Rights) have also visited different ICAR organizations, KVKs  AAU, Tea Research Station and Rain Forest Research Station  , participated in various awareness programmes and encouraged the farmers , scientists and officers for helping the farmers in providing the intellectual property rights to the farmers. 
Branch office organized and participated the first meeting of Task Force for orchids at Guwahati, Task Force meeting on tea at the Head Office and also at Tocklai Experimental Station. Visit to  DUS Centre  for  bamboo, colocasia, citrus, tea and banana situated at different parts of the North East were also undertaken. Participation at  DUS Test (Rice) monitoring and Grow out Test of rice varieties Assam   Agricultural University etc As a conserted effort of scientists, officers, farmers and farming communities the Guwahati branch office has so far received more than 1000 applications as on February, 2014 . The applications were after preliminary examination at the branch office has been forwarded to Head Office. DUS testing of the candidate varieties will be undertaken to finally issue the registration certificate.
The active participation of the Krishi Vigyan Kendras, ICAR Organizations, Regional Agricultural Research Stations of Assam Agricultural University, Central Agricultural University, and State Departments of Agriculture and Horticulture, scientists, farmers and farming communities of the North Eastern states in various activities and contribution towards the growth of the Authority has been invaluable and appreciable. 
                Today, the PPV& FR Authority is fully geared to address its mandate as enshrined in the PPV&FR Act and has achieved great heights in terms of registration of plant varieties, developing DUS guidelines for new crops, establishing and supporting DUS test centers, establishing field gene banks, development of needed infrastructure, establishing branch offices, organizing / supporting awareness and capacity building programs, publication of literature etc.

For more details, please visit the Officicial Web Site of PPV & FRA