AbstractThe farmers and agriculture sector contribution towards the conservation and sustainable utilization of the bio-resources are immense and uncountable. In ancient time the practice of agriculture is considered to be great service to the society and this practice was intertwined in their tradition and culture. The current Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) regimes are encouraging commercialization of seed development, monoculture, protection of new plant varieties, microorganisms, and genetically modified organisms. As a consequence, our rich biogenetic diversity is being eroded irreversibly. Earlier, farmers use to get their food grains without any difficulty through traditional method of cultivation, they use to enjoy the freedom of cultivation, crop selling and exchange within and outside their community without any domination in the society and this led to prevail harmony in the society. But, now Genetically Modified Seed/Hybrid Variety is destroying the originality of traditional variety. This paper will analyze how today the culture of seed saving and seed exchange which has been the basis of Indian agriculture is under great threat and how new technologies, like the technologies of the green revolution and biotechnologies, devalue the cultural and traditional knowledge embodied in the seed and eroded the holistic knowledge of the seed from the community.
Keywords: Seed Monopoly; IPR; Agriculture and Farmers Right.