GM Crops and Biotechnology — Policy Reforms

Entry	Year	Description	Impact
42nd Amendment Act	1976	This amendment inserted Article 48A into the Directive Principles of State Policy, mandating the State to protect and improve the environment and safeguard forests and wildlife. It also moved 'Forests' and 'Protection of Wild Animals and Birds' from the State List to the Concurrent List (Entries 17A and 17B), giving the Union government concurrent legislative power over these subjects.	Strengthened the constitutional basis for environmental protection laws, including those regulating GM crops. It provided the Union government with greater legislative authority to enact comprehensive environmental legislation like the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, under which GM crop regulations are framed.
The Patents (Amendment) Act	2002	This amendment to the Patent Act, 1970, brought India's patent law largely in conformity with TRIPS Agreement obligations. It expanded the scope of patentable subject matter to include micro-organisms, but retained the exclusion of plants and animals in whole or any part thereof, including seeds, varieties, and species, from patentability.	While processes involving genetic engineering of micro-organisms became patentable, the exclusion of plant varieties from patentability under Section 3(j) of the Patent Act remains a critical aspect for GM crops. This distinction influences how IPR is applied to GM seeds in India, often leading to patents on the gene construct rather than the plant variety itself, which is covered by the PPV&FR Act, 2001. This has implications for farmer access and affordability of GM seeds.