National biosafety system for regulating agricultural biotechnology in India

Agricultural biotechnology has the potential to improve crop productivity, increase farm incomes, and alleviate food security concerns in India. Adoption of such technologies has resulted in the need for establishing biosafety regulatory systems to reduce and eliminate potential risks arising from agribiotechnology on plant, animal and human life, environment and biodiversity. As a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity and Cartagena Protocol, India has taken the role of strengthening her biosafety system very seriously. In this paper, we have undertaken a comparative study of the existing national biosafety framework (NBF) in place in India, with the UNEP-GEF Framework implemented across 126 countries. On comparison with the UNEP-GEF Framework, the Indian experience has been admirable, but not without its own challenges. The purpose of this exercise is to identify challenges within the system, in an endeavour to transform the Indian biosafety regulatory system into a predictable, transparent and sustainable system.