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Gene Campaign

Gene Campaign is a research and advocacy organisation dedicated to the food and livelihood security of rural and tribal communities in India. Gene Campaign has been closely involved in the policymaking and legislation with respect to biological resources and has enabled rural and tribal communities to participate in policies relating to these resources. Gene Campaign has been largely responsible for raising the national debate on the dangers  of  seed  patents  and  its  threat  to  food  sovereignty. Its long and sustained struggle for Farmers Rights culminated in legislation, the only one of its kind so far, that grants legal rights to farmers. The Campaign helped in framing key legislation such as the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001; the Biodiversity Act 2002 and the Patent Amendment Act, 2005 after wide consultations. It helped to develop sui generis legislation that gave legal rights to farmers over seeds, making India the only country in the world to do so. The organisation has been involved in the fight against the patents granted on Basmati rice, at the national and international level, and was the first to expose the existence of the turmeric patent. It is working for the recognition of Indigenous Knowledge as an important technology and its potential to increase incomes for rural and adivasi communities. An important goal is to develop a system to grant legal rights to communities over the Indigenous Knowledge that they have created and still continue to create. As part of its endeavour to protecting Indigenous Knowledge, Gene Campaign has lobbied hard and has succeeded in keeping medicines and products derived from Indigenous Knowledge, out of the purview of patents so that they are exempted from the Patent laws. With respect to GM crops, Gene Campaign has demanded transparency and public participation. Gene Campaign has made the demand that unless the regulatory systems are demonstrably more competent, transparent and responsive to public concerns, there should be a moratorium on commercial release of GM crops in the country. The Campaign has set up about 30 Core Groups in 17 states after conducting over 400 district and village level meetings. These large-scale awareness generation programs were supported by simple literature in regional languages explaining the process of globalization and the national and international developments that could threaten food and livelihood security. The Campaign has worked together with a cross section of people including farming and adivasi communities, academic institutions, government departments, political and activist groups, NGOs and students. It is linked to a large network of national and international organizations, which enables it to have a national and international outreach.