The quality assurance of seed was started in India with the establishment of National Seed Corporation during 1963. Later on, several Public and Private sector seed companies were engaged in development and release of varieties, which necessitated seed law enforcement for the benefit of the common farmers. With the introduction of Seed Act, 1966 and other Seed Rules with Amendments there after helped the Indian seed industry to supply best quality seeds of different crops. This book entitled “Seed Legislation and Certification: A Text Book” has been written as per syllabus suggested by “Broad Subject Matter Area (BSMA) committee” of ICAR, 2021. The content of the book covers different seed legislations in India and detailed procedure of seed certification to provide comprehensive knowledge on seed policies, seed law enforcement and seed certification procedures to the learners. Different gazette notifications of Government of India and their amendments have been utilized for which the author acknowledges. The training manual received during participation as well as from other sources is also acknowledged
Dr. Amitava Dutta, has more than 25 years experience in Agricultural extension,research and teaching. In the beginning, he joined as Agricultural Development Officer under West Bengal Agricultural Service (Administration) in Goalpokher-I block, Uttar Dinajpur. Later, he joined in the West Bengal Agricultural Service (Research) and served as a scientist (Plant breeding) for more than 15 years at Rice Research Station, Bankura and Pulses and Oilseed Research Station, Berhampore, West Bengal. During this period, he has developed four oilseed varieties viz. SesameSavitri [Notification No. S.O.2458 (E), 16.10.2008]; Yellow sarson- Anushka and Sanchita [Notification No. S.O.3482 (E), 07.10.2020] and Sunflower hybrid –Arkoprovo [Notification No. S.O.4065 (E), 31.08.2022]. Presently, he is associated with teaching and research for last 10 years in the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia. He has also developed two mustard varieties, namely Trombay Bidhan Mustard-204 [Notification No. S.O.3220(E), 05.09.2019] and Trombay Bidhan Mustard-143 [Notification No. S.O.4065 (E), 31.08.2022] in collaboration with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai. Dr. Dutta has been also associated with release of one rice variety Kaushalya (IET-19140) for irrigated ecosystem in different states of India. As a chairman Advisory committee, he has guided 7 Ph.D. students, 10 M.Sc. students and published 41 research papers, one text book, 10 popular articles. He has attended 19 seminars/ workshops/national level training at different institution across India. Dr. Dutta has acted as Principal Investigator (PI) of RKVY-Sunflower and BARC sponsored project on Mustard. He has been actively involved in breeder seed production of rice, pulse and oilseed crops. The teaching, researchand training experience from ICAR-Capacity Building Programme immensely helped in preparing this book.
1. Seed Legislation .................................................................................... 1
2. Intellectual Property Rights .............................................................. 29
3. Seed Certification ............................................................................... 35
4. Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPV & FRA) .................................................................. 95
5. Seed Inspectors: Duties, Powers and Functions .........................117
6. Testing and Release of Crop Varieties and Hybrids ..................121
7. Production and Distribution of Breeder Seed .............................135
8. Plant Quarantine ..............................................................................143
9. Germplasm Exchange ......................................................................161
Annexures ..........................................................................................169
Model Questions ...............................................................................197
Acknowledgements .........................................................................203
