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Abstract

The debate around globalisation and the WTO is very often polarised; while its supporters hail its potential to bring development world over, for its critics the organisation is a symbol of western economic domination. This essay looks at the enactment of the Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001 in India in the wake of its membership to the WTO, to analyse and complicate the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ narrative of trade liberalisation. By exploiting the concessions extracted under the TRIPS, the Act seeks to balance competing interests – that of a steadily growing seed industry against the rights of poor farmers. An analysis of the Act and its implementation shows interesting trends. It has not led to seed monopolies or a total ‘take over’ of seed technology from farmers by MNCs as predicted. In fact, the impacts on industry and farmers seem to be distinct. At the same time, it is unlikely that IPRs in agriculture will effectively secure the interests of small farmers and the environment in the long run. Overall, the paper suggests, the results are mixed, not lending themselves to any stylized claims. It argues that while trade under the WTO continues to be in favour of developed countries and corporations, with enough civil society mobilisation and political will, possibilities of creatively incorporating resistance within compliance exist. The case of seed IPRs in India is a sobering reminder to steer clear of over-simplifying the complex relationship of developing countries to international trade. To quote a line from Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird, “… delete the adjectives and I’d have the facts.”

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