Indian Seed Congress 2015

It is indeed a pleasure to be amongst you at this inaugural session of the Indian

Seed Congress 2015. Seeds occupy an important place in Indian agriculture as
they holds promise for the future and are drivers of the economy. While seed
drives agriculture and the economy, innovations in plant breeding, science and
technology drive the growth of seed industry. Science and technology is the
hallmark of seed industry, which is built on the foundations of conventional plant
breeding and modern biotechnologies. The spirit of innovation of this industry has
led to green revolution and food security. Now is the time for another leap in our
path to overcome our challenges towards the new vision and direction through
the concerted efforts of the industry and Government.
At the outset let me mention, that as seedsmen and seeds women of this
country, you have been playing a unique role not only in organizing
production and supply of quality seeds, but also as breeders and innovators
of suitable plant types and varieties that fuel the growth of our economy.
Infact, women have played a pioneering role of inventors through their
keen observation of seed germination as inventors in Agriculture, while the
men were away for hunting.
This industry also occupies a unique position in primary sector, where seed
as an input to agriculture is also the output of agriculture operations. Seeds
are grown through agriculture operations unlike manufactured products
and therefore subject to the risks and uncertainties of agriculture.
Seed is the primary input to agriculture as it encapsulates the genetic
makeup of an individual plant and upon which all other inputs like
nutrients, irrigation, labour, pesticides, credit, management, etc., are
applied to realize output and profitability for the farmer.
Seed industry is linked to domestication and breeding across multiple
generations for developing better plant types suiting the economic needs
of the society. Plant breeding as an art and later as a scientific discipline
also is the foundation of this Research and Technology Development
intensive industry. So I see all of you not as mere business managers or
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entreprenuers, but as techno-prenuers who drive innovation by breeding

better plant types for the world.
As a knowledge intensive industry, you have come a long way today,
evolving into a vibrant sector in the economy, contributing to the growth of
Indian agriculture. Our systematic plant breeding programs both in private
and public sector, developments in molecular biotechnologies and Science
and Technology in general have led this so far and will continue to do so in
future. Government policy in terms of enabling seed regulations and plant
variety protection have further given a boost to this industry in which both
public and private sector have a played pivotal role.
The breakthroughs in Plant breeding through release of dwarf Wheat,
Mega Rice varieties, Maize, Jowar, Bajra and Cotton hybrids, the
developments in fruit and vegetable breeding complemented by improved
crop management practices have ushered in spectacular results in the last 5
decades. The advent of transgenic Cotton has changed the Indian Cotton
landscape and the 95% adoption of the products generated by a
combination of conventional plant breeding and modern biotechnologies
shows the potential of how innovation and research and development can
benefit industry and the farmers. However there are still challenges in
terms of capacity building and enforcement of biosafety within new
technology regimes and technology itself in the form of Big Data and
Bioinformatics as a convergence of Information technology and
Biotechnology will provide the solutions.
The public sector through the National Agricultural Research System (NARS)
network of ICAR institutes and State Agricultural Universities in R&D have
been successfully coordinating both in R&D and evaluation, however there
is a need for public-private partnerships and collaboration with private
sector, with an ultimate aim of technology development for making farming
as a profitable enterprise.
The Department of Science and Technology works for promotion of new
areas of S&T and works on their coordination and promotion. In addition to
development of policy, funding and several other institutional building
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activities, DST also has a role in integrating areas of cross-sectoral linkages

in science. Today we are among the top five seed producing countries
among the organized sector, with a great potential to scale up and the
convergence of technologies through a multi-disciplinary approach will
enable us reach the leadership position.
R&D in Plant breeding and Biotechnology like Pharma sector is capital
intensive with long gestation periods and lead times and a strong
regulatory & biosafety compliances for release of suitable science based
products to the farmers.
I understand that, while domestic companies and institutions develop
superior varieties and hybrids suiting local agro-climatic conditions, global
majors provide technology traits to be integrated into domestic products
for a license.
Indian companies should also develop capabilities on par with global
companies in modern biotechnologies and molecular breeding approaches
so that ultimately the farmers get advantage of the improved technologies
at affordable pricing. This can be achieved through institutional
collaborations in PPP mode and DST in collaboration with DBT will further
und for suitable projects for augmenting Biotechnology research
capabilities of domestic players in seed industry. The Public sector and
private sector including global majors should come together as a
consortium to develop Indian Agri-biotechnology capabilities for
strengthening the seed industry. Some of the initiatives which can be
planned include
o Collaborative genetic diversity management and gene banks
o Accelerating breeding process through molecular marker based
selection on a large scale
o New molecular Plant breeding technologies like cisgenesis, Site
directed mutagenesis, reverse breeding which bypass the transgenic
stages while enabling gene expression in the offspring.
o Convergence in use of Big Data for genetic mapping and using them
for the benefit of the industry.
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 While it is an imperative and business case for the technology developer

whether Indian or global to gain adequate return in investment, it is also
essential to ensure that the technology is accessible and affordable to all.
This is a balancing act which should be ensured in the provisions of our
Biotechnology Regulatory Authorities.
Our Ministry is examining the provisions of Biotechnology Regulatory
Authority of India Bill in the context of certain suggestions of the Industry
for access through liberal licensing of technology traits approved by the
system as well as fixation of reasonable royalties. The national interest will
be always protected and growth of local industry shall be taken care. While
new GM traits will be of significant advantage to the country in raising crop
productivity their spread through licensing to as many local seed companies
as possible with affordable royalties is also of equal importance in light of
the national interest.
With IPR, seed and biotechnology regulatory regimes evolving in parallel,
there is also a need for harmonization of standards and developing a
standards and process driven regulatory system. DST will work with other
Departments in that direction to evaluate if such standards based systems
can be developed so that accredited private sector agencies can also
support public sector for conformity and compliance testing.

With professionalism in our research and technology built over standardized

processes, collaborative networks and consortia working towards a shared vision,
enabling convergence through a multi-disciplinary approach, we all can together
work towards global leadership with an ultimate motive of making our farmers
prosperous. I congratulate NSAI for organizing this important event and urge all to
move towards the path of inculcating science led development through our
organizations.

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