The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed amendments to a key environmental legislation to further its goal of promoting ‘ease of doing business’ in the country. The draft bill — Biological Diversity (Amendment), 2022 — seeks to streamline and simplify the compliance obligations for Ayush practitioners to access biological resources.
The bill amends the two-decade-old Biological Diversity Act, 2002, that was framed to conserve India’s biological diversity, sustainable use of its components and provide a mechanism for accessing and sharing of the biological or genetic resources in a fair and equitable manner among the indigenous and local communities.
The crucial environmental law was passed in less than half-an-hour amid loud protests from opposition members who were demanding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s response on the dire situation in Manipur. The north-eastern state has been witnessing turbulence for the last two months.
AIM TO PROMOTE ‘EASE OF DOING BUSINESS’
Speaking on the floor of the House, Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said the government intends to promote ‘ease of doing business’ in India, while achieving the objectives of the existing Act.
“Ayush Ministry was formed under the present government which relies on use of biodiversity products, and works on promoting India’s traditional medicine system. The amendments have been brought in to facilitate more research and academic environment for collaborative research in this area,” he said.
The environment minister hailed the proposed legislation highlighting that it decriminalises all offences under the Act which will benefit the Ayurvedic/Ayush practitioners and promotes ease of doing business. Instead, it makes any violation punishable with a penalty between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 50 lakh which can go up to Rs 1 crore in case of continuing contravention.
The draft bill was initially introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 2021 by the environment minister amid protests from opposition members. It was then referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) which submitted its report last year suggesting certain modifications. Only two MPs — both from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — participated in the discussion on Tuesday. MP Sanjay Jaiswal who was Chairman of the JPC said the bill had received no dissent note from any of the MPs.
AIMED AT FACILITATING RESEARCH UNDER ‘AYUSH’
The environment ministry stated that the bill encourages India’s traditional system of medicine — Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani. Besides, it would “encourage foreign investments in Ayush Drug industry and popularise the medicines used in the Indian systems of treatment thereby earning more foreign exchange,” it said in a statement.
However, the bill has sparked concerns among experts who say the move could eventually lead to deregulation of the commercial use of biological resources, and may infringe upon the rights of forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act.
Most significantly, it provides exemptions to the Indian medicinal system for codified traditional knowledge, cultivated medicinal plants and their products as well as Ayush practitioners from the purview of access and benefit-sharing requirements. This would help in improving the status and availability of a substantial number of threatened and endangered medicinal plants, said the ministry.
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