The battle over Bt cotton

While Monsanto and Indian seed companies spar, more worrying is the confused lawmaking underpinning regulation of patents

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) breed controversy like no other. Little wonder then that Monsanto’s much-maligned Bt cotton has spawned the mother of all intellectual property (IP) disputes in India, involving at least 15 different proceedings in various courts, government agencies and tribunals at last count.

Most proceedings appear to have come at the behest of certain seed companies led by Nuziveedu. Its founder, Prabhakar Rao, is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that these seed majors beget a better deal than what they bargained for when they first contracted with Monsanto to licence its proprietary GM technology.

A recent controversy centres around which of the two IP regimes governs the dispute: the Patents Act or the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPVFRA). To me, this appears to be a false dichotomy and a red herring of sorts. Both these legislations apply and one does not necessarily trump the other. But first a word about the technological underpinnings of this dispute, so this point about co-existence can be appreciated better.

Monsanto and patent protection

Monsanto patented a number of components related to Bt cotton, a biotech invention involving the infusion of the Bt gene into the cotton genome. Bt stands for Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacteria whose genome codes for a protein that kills the bollworm, a pest that has perennially plagued the cotton plant. The patent does not cover the plant itself, as plants and animals are ineligible for patent protection in India, as are ordinary biological processes for creating them. However, microbiological processes (such as methods of creating transgenic varieties) and microorganisms (such as new and inventive transgenes and their constructs) are patentable under the terms of the Indian Patents Act, and Monsanto’s patents cover most of these components. It bears noting in this regard that Bt cotton technology was never static, but evolved over time to cater to the pest resistance that soon developed. While the technology pertaining to Bollgard-I was never patented in India (since this technology was discovered prior to India’s undertaking of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or TRIPS commitments), Bollgard-II was, and it is this technology that is in dispute.

Using the patented technology, Monsanto created a host of donor Bt cotton seeds and distributed them to seed companies under specific agreements mandating the payment of royalties (trait fees), etc. Seed companies in turn used these donor seeds to introgress the desirable genetic trait (bollworm resistance) into their own specific hybrid varieties by backcrossing.

Monsanto’s patents cover various components of the technology embedded in the donor seeds handed out to seed companies (the new man-made transgene, the DNA construct and the method of creating the new cotton genome). Any seed company that uses this donor seed and creates a new plant variety is entitled to register such variety under the PPVFRA.

This new plant variety registration, however, does not extinguish Monsanto’s upsteam patent rights. Neither does the patent right override the plant variety protection. They co-exist. As such, seed companies cannot commercialise their hybrids without a patent licence from Monsanto, in much the same way that Monsanto cannot sell or distribute these hybrids without permission from the seed company. If Monsanto refuses to licence the seed companies, they can move for a compulsory licence (CL) under the Patents Act, provided they satisfy the terms of Section 84, which states that a CL could be granted if the patented invention is exorbitantly priced or not available in reasonable quantities to the public or is not being worked in the territory in India.

But this licence application has to be under the terms of the Patents Act, and not the PPVFRA. Given this clear-cut demarcation, one wonders what the legal fracas is all about!

Unless of course one were to invalidate Monsanto’s patent. If news reports are to be believed, there are pending invalidity proceedings before both the IPAB (Intellectual Property Appellate Board) as also the DIPP (Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion).

At cross-purposes

The DIPP proceeding is a particularly interesting one, given that Section 66 of the Patents Act has been invoked, an exceptional provision that provides for revocation on grounds that the patent is “mischievous to the state or generally prejudicial to the public”. The key contention appears to be that the patent is no longer effective, given the pest resistance that developed over time. A ground not likely to pass muster with a court of law, given the rather high bar for invoking Section 66. Quite apart from the fact that it appears a tad bit paradoxical that while one wing of the government (the Ministry of Agriculture) has recently issued a draft notification qualifying GM technology as an industry “standard” that must mandatorily be licensed on FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) terms to as many seed companies as possible, another one (DIPP) insists that the technology is useless!

More surprising is the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture, with no proven expertise or jurisdictional competence over patent issues, would go out on a limb and suggest (in an official draft notification no less) that Monsanto’s patents over upstream GM technology must necessarily yield to downstream plant variety rights.

Whatever be our personal predilections against GMOs, it is a matter of deep concern that government agencies appear to be flouting the rule of law with impunity. While there may be merit in regulating GMO patents, this must be done after following due processes under the law, through the relevant competent authority (such as the Patent Office), and not through abusive lawmaking designed to seemingly favour one set of stakeholders who are essentially engaged in a private commercial dispute.

More importantly, one wonders why the government chooses to concentrate all of its eggs in the Bt cotton basket. Particularly so when its own institutes contend that even Bollgard-II technology is soon succumbing to progressive pest resistance.

Shouldn’t our government be encouraging a diversity of approaches in Indian agriculture, entailing both GM technology and the more traditional processes that have stood the test of time? More so, when nature has taught us time and again that the best of technologies can never really match up to the wisdom of an innate evolutionary process.

In fact, if it wishes to be a bit radical, the government could even encourage what maverick scientists did in Assam recently, when they encouraged farmers to reimagine beetles (that destroyed crops) as protein-laden delicacies to be consumed with relish. And this leaves us with just one real question in the end: can the bollworm be barbecued?

Shamnad Basheer is Honorary Research Chair Professor of IP Law at Nirma University and founder of SpicyIP.

source: The Hindu, 5-10-2016

SBI recruitment notification for 476 specialist cadre officers issued

The State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday said it will recruit 476 specialist cadre officers on a regular and as well as contract basis.

The notification (CRPD/SCO/2016-17/9) can be seen on the official website of the state-run bank. Interested candidates can apply online on SBI’s website by clicking here.

The online registration process will begin on October 4 and continue till October 22.

The selection process for the four regular positions of system officer, developers, test lead, tester and statistician is different from that of all contractual positions and the regular position of technology relationship manager.Candidates will be selected on the basis of online test and interview for the four regular positions. The test will be conducted tentatively on November 25, 2016.In case, the number of candidates for regular positions is less the bank may select applicants by shortlisting and interviewing them instead of conducting a test and an interview. The date for the test will be uploaded on SBI’s website and candidates will also be informed through SMS and emails.

Candidates can download their call letters for the online test from November 15, 2016.The test may be held at Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram. The bank, however, can add or delete any centre and allot a candidate to any another centre other than their choice.

For the contractual positions and that of technology relationship manager, candidates will be selected by shortlisting and interview.

Source: Hindustan Times, 4-10-2016

‘Being gentle is not being unmanly’: Writer Shashi Deshpande tells Indian men

Dear Men,

I am slightly uneasy at addressing you as ‘dear’ men, in view of the things I am going to say to you. But of course, this is only a formality. It is also a wish and a hope, so let the ‘dear’ remain.

I have for long wanted to speak to you directly on the subject of rape. But I have a suspicion that you don’t want to listen to anything which makes you uncomfortable. Which is why rapehas become a problem that only concerns women. But you know, or rather you should know, that it is not a women’s-only issue. There are two parties to any offence – offender and victim; both have to be part of the conversation. So, here goes.

I am sure many of you remember the girl who was gang-raped in a bus in Delhi. Perhaps, you also remember the brutality and savagery with which the rapists treated her. Something strange happened then, something we can’t explain even now: the country erupted in protest. And you too, yes, you men, were part of the protest.

How gladdened I was to see you standing along with the women in this fight. ‘Nirbhaya’, the media called the girl, following the convention that a victim of rape should not be named. But on the first anniversary of her death, her mother, as courageous as her daughter, declared, “My daughter is not Nirbhaya, her name is Jyoti Singh.” Hearing her words, I had goose bumps, as if I was witnessing something momentous. Something momentous had happened. This woman, by declaring that there was no need for her daughter’s identity to be concealed, was denying the shame and humiliation that had always been a rape victim’s lot.

The girl and her death haunted me for long; it still does. But do you know what haunted me more? It was the cruelty with which the men had dealt with the girl. I asked myself: where does this cruelty come from? Agreed that rape comes out of lust, out of looking at women as possessions; but cruelty? It can only come out of hatred. So where does the hatred come from? We can’t escape the truth that most of us, you too, have been brought up by women – and with care and tenderness. Some of the most intimate and tender moments of our lives have been spent with each other.

I know, too, the love with which fathers, brothers, all men look upon the females in their family. Which is why I ask you: do you make a difference between ‘your’ women and ‘other’ women? But if it is so, why do we hear, too often these days, of fathers, brothers, uncles, even grandfathers raping girls in their family? I read a terrible story of a girl raped over a long period of time by her father, brother and uncle. Even more terrible was the fact that the girl’s elder sister, too, had had to endure the same ordeal and had finally committed suicide. The story filled me with horror, anger and pity.

I am sure most of you will say: what have I to do with rapists? I don’t rape. But let’s put rape in its context, as part of a pattern of taken-for-granted violence which has many facets. Eve-teasing. (What an inadequate phrase!) Stalking. And flashing. I was in hospital after my first son’s birth when a man opened the door and, pretending he was looking for another room, exhibited his pride and glory to me. A woman who had just delivered! But let’s move on.

In the family there’s casual cruelty, there’s wife-beating and marital rape. In the world outside, gang rape is becoming common; they hunt in packs now. The latest trend is acid-throwing.

Rape, however, is an ancient practice. Even the gods raped. Zeus and Indra were both notorious rapists. I wonder how many of you know the story of Ambika and Ambalike, princesses of Kashi, brought by Bhishma to marry his sickly brother King Vichitravirya. When he could not father a son on them, they were forced to sleep with a stranger to provide heirs for the kingdom. They each had a son: Pandu who was white because his mother turned pale and fainted when she saw the stranger she had to sleep with, and Dhritarashtra, who was blind because his mother closed her eyes to the horror of what she had to endure. Such a lot of cruelty and fear concealed in this story, isn’t there? Yet, some people talk of our ancient culture as an ideal one. Not for women, it seems. But let’s give credit to the story-teller who told this as it happened. Forget about the past, we need to make this age better. We can do it only if we work together. Women need to teach their sons to respect women, but there are some things only you can do. Like teaching boys that being gentle is not being unmanly. Teaching them how to deal with their bodily desires without hurting others. And only from your behaviour with women will boys learn that companionship with women is possible. Perhaps, they will then know, when the time comes, what sex really is: a union that is the ultimate expression of love and an act of the greatest shared pleasure for all humans.

Yours in hope

Shashi Deshpande

( The author is a novelist and short story writer)

Source: Hindustan Times, 5-10-2016

30% of Very Poor Children Live in India: Unicef

United Nations: Press Trust of India





India is home to over 30% of almost 385 million children living in extreme poverty, the highest in south Asia, according to a new report by World Bank Group and Unicef, `Ending Extreme Poverty: A Focus on Children.' It said children are more than twice as likely as adults to live in extreme poverty . In 2013, 19.5% of children in developing nations were living in households that survived on an average of USD 1.90 a day or less per person, compared to just 9.2% of adults. Globally , almost 385 million children are living in extreme poverty .The report said sub-Saharan Africa has both the highest rates of children living in extreme poverty at just under 50%, and the largest share of the world's extremely poor children, at just over 50%.
“South Asia has the second highest share at nearly 36% with over 30% of extremely poor children in India alone,“ it said, adding that four out of five children in extreme poverty live in rural areas.
The report said children are disproportionately affected as they make up around a third of the population studied but half of the extreme poor. The youngest are the most at risk with more than one-fifth of children under the age of five in the developing world living in extremely poor households.
“Effects of poverty are most damaging to children. They are the worst off and the youngest children are the worst off of all,“ said Anthony Lake, executive director, Unicef. PTI

Source: Economic Times, 5-10-2016

Lead A Life Of Compassion, Receive Grace

Ramalinga Adigal





We should understand and obtain benefit for the soul which is attainable through this human birth. It is to live the unique great life at all times, at all places and in all ways without any sort of hindrance, obtaining the absolute natural bliss of God, who by His Grace has made all the universes, worlds, things, living beings, ways of living.That great life can be obtained only by Grace which can be obtained only by leading a life of compassion (jivakarunya) towards all living beings ­ not even a little of it can be obtained by any other means.This is because Grace is God's mercy , natural manifestation; compassion means living beings' sympathy or their souls' natural manifestation. Therefore it is certain that by sympathy we can get mercy and by manifestation, get manifestation.Grace can be obtained only by being compassionate to other living beings.
When compassion to living beings manifests, knowledge and love will blossom along with it; therefore `helping power' manifests; because of that all good benefits will appear, but when compassion to living beings disappears, knowledge and love will disappear immediately, therefore `helping power' will disappear, and when it disappears, all evils will appear.Virtue is nothing but showing compassion to living beings, and vice means to be without compassion to living beings.
Enlightenment coming from leading a life of compassion towards living beings is Enlightenment of God, and bliss coming out of leading a life of compassion towards living beings is Divine Bliss. Liberated ones while they are still living are only those who have attained their goal, having seen and enjoyed this manifestation and bliss for a long time and are thus fulfilled, and then only they will know God by knowledge and will become God.
But, what is meant by leading a life of compassion towards all living beings? It is to live, worshipping God, by the melting of the soul of living beings, towards other living beings.
When will the melting of the soul towards other beings occur? It will occur when one sees, hears or comes to know of the suffering of living beings due to hunger, thirst, disease, desire, poverty , fear and the suffering when being killed.
What is the spiritual need to have compassion towards other living beings? All living beings are created by God as part and parcel of the natural truth and are of the same quality; so they are all brothers with the same right. The melting of the soul that occurs, when one of the brothers sees another suffering or knows that he is going to suffer due to some peril and the former recognises the latter as his brother, it is called the age-old spiritual right.
Some people, even on seeing other living beings suffer, do not have compassion towards them and are hard-hearted; there is no fraternal right to these people, because: Their eye called spiritual knowledge has become very dim because of nescience; though there was the fraternal right, compassion to living beings did not arise. From this it is learnt that those who have compassion towards other living beings have enlightened spiritual vision or perception.

Change in recruitment rules irks UGC officials

Akshaya Mukul

New Delhi:





A change in recruitment rules has led to resentment in the University Grants Commission (UGC), resulting in more than 15 officers submitting a representation to the secretary of the higher education regulator requesting that the rules be either amended or kept in abeyance.Officers, who plan to knock at the doors of Union HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, allege that the new recruitment rules notified in August could create a chasm between direct recruits at the level of deputy secretary or joint secretary and promotees.
For instance, the new recruitment rules mandate that only a person with a first class in masters degree can be promoted to the post of deputy secretary , the aggrieved officers said.
They added that a large number of under secretaries and education officers in the UGC had a PhD but did not have first class in postgraduation.
“They cannot be promoted as deputy secretary now,“ an officer said, pointing out that the commission had prescribed 55% in postgraduation for assistant professors.
The officers said the qualification requirement for the position of joint secretary was “ironic“. It says a person should have a “doctorate in any discipline with first or second class masters degree“. An officer said, “This criteria means that someone who is not eligible for the post of deputy secretary either through direct recruitment or through promotion due to second class in masters can become eligible for the post of joint secretary .“
A questionnaire sent to the UGC early in September went unanswered.
Another problem with the new recruitment rules, officers said, was the capping of age at 45 years (relaxable up to five years) for promotion to the position of deputy secretary.
“This means several eligible officers will have to continue as education officer or under secretary until retirement just because they have crossed the age limit,“ the officer said.
Similar problems have been pointed out in the case of promotion to the post of joint secretary .

Source: Times of India, 5-10-2016

All about means and ends

The Management Information System of MGNREGA is a way to providing data on implementation. But to achieve complete transparency it has to overcome several shortcomings

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is not only a pioneering livelihood security programme but also a great example of proactive disclosure of information through its Management Information System (MIS). It is the first transaction-based real-time system for any public works programme in the country that is available in the public domain. There has been a digitisation of all the processes in MGNREGA — right from a worker registering demand for work, to work allotment, to finally getting wages for completed works. Another notable feature of the MIS is the availability of information through online reports at various levels of disaggregation. This has enabled any citizen to monitor the implementation of the programme and has consequently charted a new paradigm of transparency since the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The sheer scale of information available on implementation is also no mean achievement. Individual worker details from around 2.5 lakh gram panchayats are available in the MGNREGA MIS.

While this system is certainly a great feather in the cap of a transparent democracy, it is critical to understand its current shortcomings and possible ways to improve its functioning.

Shortcomings

To begin with, the MIS is accessible only from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Indian Standard Time. This is a huge impediment for collaborative work across time zones.

Second, it does not provide any data dictionary. A data dictionary is a repository of all the names of variables/columns used in various reports, containing a brief explanation of its meanings. Such a dictionary is crucial so that any citizen accessing the online reports can understand the content in them. As things stand, unless somebody has spent a lot of time in rural areas, it is difficult to comprehend the details of many reports.

Third, the nomenclature of the column names in the online reports is not consistent. The same column name is labelled differently in different reports. For instance, what is referred to as the Payment Date in the report of weekly works (‘Mustroll Report’) is known as the Second Signatory Date in a report titled ‘FTO Second Signatory’. Payment Date is also a misnomer as it does not refer to the date on which a worker gets paid. Although obfuscation of the column names may not be intentional, it nevertheless becomes excruciating for any citizen or researcher to make meaningful sense of the reports.

Fourth, some obvious worker-centric links in the data structure are missing. For example, every household that does MGNREGA work has a unique job card number. This number is crucial to get work. Upon completion of a work week, a Funds Transfer Order (FTO) is generated containing the details of each job card holder’s earned wages. On the MIS, there is no clear link between these two crucial pieces. As such it becomes difficult to follow the trail of each job card holder from the time of work demanded to getting the wages.

Passing the baton of accountability

While computerisation of all transactions is a welcome move, officials are passing the baton of accountability. One should be mindful that an information system doesn’t end up controlling the legal rights. There are several situations when a written request for work by a worker is not entered in the MIS till funds for work allocation are made available from the Centre. This is illegal as the Act mandates provision of work within a stipulated time of requesting for it. Similarly, the generation of the FTO is withheld till funds for wage payments are released. There are other instances when the FTO is not generated if a worker fails to furnish his or her Aadhaar number. Some are harder to locate as there is no paper trail or stated intention but realised only retrospectively once the workers are affected. There are other such examples illustrating how the IT infrastructure becomes a tool prioritising administrative needs as opposed to being a programme enabler. In this regard, it is instructive to recall the phrase “code is law” popularised by the Harvard Law professor, Lawrence Lessig. Code, as in software, and code, as in law, can both be instruments of social control. To quote him: “We can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to protect values that we believe are fundamental. Or we can build, or architect, or code cyberspace to allow those values to disappear. There is no middle ground. Code is never found; it is only ever made, and only ever made by us.”

Technological architecture can also be used to perpetuate falsehoods. For instance, consider the flawed mechanism of the calculation of delay compensation when wages are not paid on time. Ideally, the compensation should be calculated from the 16th day of completion of a work week till the day on which the workers actually receive their wages. However, the compensation is computed based on the payment date, which, as we have mentioned, is not the date on which the wages get credited into the workers’ accounts. The difference of the two calculation methods run into crores of rupees that rightfully belong to the workers. While the automated calculation is a progressive measure, its basis must be correct and transparent. The fact that even with the flawed calculation no compensation has been paid corroborates that technology can be a strong aid but not a replacement for accountability.

The MIS is a powerful mechanism to have an evidence-based discourse for monitoring basic services. But a governance framework for the MIS needs to be put in place that lays out the minimum standards and accountability of the Ministry managing the system. Such a framework must be built in consultation with all concerned parties and should follow the provisions of the law (both MGNREGA and RTI). The system design choices should reflect the values of the worker-centric programme and hence principles need to be followed for compassionate design. Otherwise, we fear that technology is dictating administrative choices, akin to the phrase “architecture is politics”.

Sakina Dhorajiwala is a student of Public Policy at St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. Rajendran teaches at Ashoka University, Sonepat. The views expressed are personal and don’t reflect their respective institutions’ perspectives.

Source: The Hindu, 4-10-2016