Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021

The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Mr. Bhupender Yadav on December 16, 2021.  The Bill amends the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.  The Act provides for the conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological resources.  

The Bill seeks to streamline research and patent applications, encourage cultivation of wild medicinal plants, and practice of indigenous medicine.  

According to PRS Legislative Research, the key amendments proposed by the Bill include:

• Access to biological resources and intellectual property rights (IPR): The Act provides for the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) which regulates access to biological resources, and the sharing of research results on such resources.  Biological resources include plants, animals, micro-organisms or their genetic material, with use or value for humanity (excludes human genetic material).   Certain entities must seek approval from the NBA for obtaining biological resources, and before applying for IPR.  These entities are: (i) non-citizens, (ii) non-resident citizens, (iii) organisations not registered in India, and (iv) organisations registered in India, with any non-Indian shareholding or management.  The Bill amends the last category to any foreign-controlled company registered in India.  The Bill also provides that these four categories of applicants must obtain NBA’s approval before the grant of IPR (and not before applying for IPR).

• Commercial utilisation: Under the Act, State Biodiversity Boards (SBBs) are set up by state governments to advise them on conservation of biodiversity. Indian citizens and organisations registered in India must give prior intimation to the concerned SBB before obtaining any biological resource for commercial utilisation.  They must also get NBA’s approval before applying for IPR.  The Bill amends this to provide that anyone who does not need approval from NBA to access biological resources must give prior intimation to the concerned SBB.  Further, they must: (i) register with the NBA before the grant of IPR, and (ii) get prior approval of the NBA before commercialising the granted IPR.   
• Exemptions:   Under the Act, certain communities are exempted from intimating the SBB before obtaining any biological resource for commercial utilisation.  These are: (i) local people and communities of the area, and (ii) practitioners of indigenous medicine (vaids and hakims).  The Bill extends the exemption to registered AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) practitioners, and cultivated medicinal plants and their products.
• Composition of National Biodiversity Authority: The Act provides for a 16-member National Biodiversity Authority.  These include: (i) ten ex-officio members appointed by the central government, dealing with certain Ministries (on matters such as biotechnology, agriculture, environment and forests, Indian system of medicine, earth sciences), and (ii) five non-official members who are subject matter experts and representatives of industry and conservers.  The Bill provides for 11 additional members in the Authority. These include: (i) six ex-officio members dealing with wildlife, forestry research, and Panchayati Raj, (ii) four representatives from State Biodiversity Boards (on a rotational basis), and (iii) a Member-Secretary (must have experience in biodiversity conservation).  The Member-Secretary will be the chief coordinating officer of the NBA.   
• Threatened species: The Act empowers the central government to notify any species which is near-extinction as a threatened species, in consultation with the concerned state government.  The Bill allows the central government to delegate this power to the state government.   However, before notifying any threatened species, the state government must consult the NBA. 
• Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC): The Act mandates local bodies to constitute a BMC for promoting conservation of habitats, and documenting the conservation of specific plant varieties, animal breeds, and microorganisms.  The Bill specifies that the state government will prescribe the composition of these BMCs, and they must have between seven to eleven members.  Further, state governments may also constitute BMCs at the intermediate or district Panchayat level.    
• Offences:   The offences under the Act are cognizable and non-bailable.  A cognizable offence is one for which a police officer may arrest an accused person without a warrant.  The Bill deletes this provision.

Environment-related sections of the Budget Speech of Finance Minister

The following are the environment-related sections of the Budget Speech made by the Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman on February 1, 2022:

Natural farming

Chemical-free Natural Farming will be promoted throughout the country, with a focus on farmers’ lands in 5-km wide corridors along river

Ganga, at the first stage.

Ken Betwa project and Other River Linking Projects

Implementation of the Ken-Betwa Link Project, at an estimated cost

of ₹44,605 crore will be taken up. This is aimed at providing irrigation

benefits to 9.08 lakh hectare of farmers’ lands, drinking water supply for 62 lakh people, 103 MW of Hydro, and 27 MW of solar power. Allocations of ₹4,300 crore in RE 2021-22 and ₹1,400 crore in 2022-23 have been made for this project.

Draft DPRs of five river links, namely Damanganga-Pinjal, Par-Tapi-Narmada, Godavari-Krishna, Krishna-Pennar and Pennar-Cauvery have been finalized. Once a consensus is reached among the beneficiary states, the Centre will provide support for implementation

Har Ghar, Nal Se Jal

Current coverage of Har Ghar, Nal Se Jal is 8.7 crores. Of this 5.5 crore households were provided tap water in last 2 years itself. Allocation of ₹60,000 crore has been made with an aim to cover 3.8 crore households in 2022-23.

Green Clearances

A single window portal, PARIVESH, for all green clearances was launched in 2018. It has been instrumental in reducing the time required for approvals significantly. The scope of this portal will now be expanded, to provide information to the applicants. Based on location of units, information about specific approvals will be provided. It will enable application for all four approvals through a single form, and tracking of the process through Centralized Processing Centre-Green (CPC-Green).

Clean & Sustainable Mobility

We will promote a shift to use of public transport in urban areas. This will be complemented by clean tech and governance solutions, special mobility zones with zero fossil-fuel policy, and EV vehicles.

Battery Swapping Policy

Considering the constraint of space in urban areas for setting up charging stations at scale, a battery swapping policy will be brought out and inter-operability standards will be formulated. The private sector will be encouraged to develop sustainable and innovative business models for ‘Battery or Energy as a Service’. This will improve efficiency in the EV ecosystem.

Energy Transition and Climate Action

The risks of climate change are the strongest negative externalities that affect India and other countries. As Hon’ble Prime Minister said at the COP26 summit in Glasgow last November, “what is needed today is mindful and deliberate utilisation, instead of mindless and destructive consumption.” The low carbon development strategy as enunciated in the ‘panchamrit’ that he announced is an important reflection of our government’s strong commitment towards sustainable development.

This strategy opens up huge employment opportunities and will take the country on a sustainable development path. This budget proposes several near-term and long-term actions accordingly.

Solar Power

To facilitate domestic manufacturing for the ambitious goal of 280 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030, an additional allocation of ₹ 19,500 crore for Production Linked Incentive for manufacture of high efficiency modules, with priority to fully integrated manufacturing units from polysilicon to solar PV modules, will be made.

Circular Economy

The Circular Economy transition is expected to help in productivity

enhancement as well as creating large opportunities for new businesses and jobs. The action plans for ten sectors such as electronic waste, end-of-life vehicles, used oil waste, and toxic & hazardous industrial waste are ready.

The focus now will be on addressing important cross cutting issues of

infrastructure, reverse logistics, technology upgradation and integration with informal sector. This will be supported by active public policies covering regulations, extended producers’ responsibilities framework and innovation facilitation.

Transition to Carbon Neutral Economy

Five to seven per cent biomass pellets will be co-fired in thermal power plants resulting in CO2 savings of 38 MMT annually. This will also provide extra income to farmers and job opportunities to locals and help avoid stubble burning in agriculture fields.

Saving energy is an important aspect of energy management. Hence, energy efficiency and savings measures will be promoted. This will be done in large commercial buildings through the Energy Service Company (ESCO) business model. It will facilitate capacity building and awareness for energy audits, performance contracts, and common measurement & verification protocol.

Four pilot projects for coal gasification and conversion of coal into chemicals required for the industry will be set-up to evolve technical and financial viability.

The policies and required legislative changes to promote agro forestry and private forestry will be brought in. In addition, financial support will be provided to farmers belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who want to take up agro-forestry.

Green Bonds

As a part of the government’s overall market borrowings in 2022-23,

sovereign Green Bonds will be issued for mobilizing resources for green

infrastructure. The proceeds will be deployed in public sector projects which help in reducing the carbon intensity of the economy.