Medicinal Plants, in Short-Note Shape

In one line

The compact answer, written once, for the three papers on which MU sets medicinal plants as a short note.

In exam wording: medicinal plants are not defined by any Indian statute; they are regulated indirectly, as biological resources under sections 3, 6, 7 and 21 of the Biological Diversity Act 2002, as specified plants under Chapter IIIA of the Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972 if listed in Schedule III, as minor forest produce under section 2(i) of the Forest Rights Act 2006, as forest produce under the Indian Forest Act 1927, and as ingredients of Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani drugs under Chapter IVA of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940; the harvest of a wild medicinal plant that is not a specified plant, is not taken from a protected area or forest land, and has not been notified as threatened under section 38 of the Act of 2002, is not regulated at all; and the amendment of 2023, in force from 1 April 2024, took cultivated medicinal plants and their products, codified traditional knowledge, local people and communities including growers and cultivators, and vaids, hakims and registered AYUSH practitioners out of section 7.

The eight sentences

A short note is about two hundred and fifty words. Here are the eight sentences it should contain, in order.

One. No Indian statute defines a medicinal plant; the nearest recognition is section 2(i) of the Forest Rights Act 2006, which includes medicinal plants and herbs within minor forest produce.

Two. As a biological resource under section 2(c) of the Biological Diversity Act 2002, a medicinal plant is subject to section 3, which requires the previous approval of the National Biodiversity Authority where the person is a foreigner, a non-resident Indian, or a body corporate not incorporated in India, or incorporated in India and controlled by a foreigner within the meaning of section 2(27) of the Companies Act 2013.

Three. For everybody else, section 7 requires prior intimation to the State Biodiversity Board before accessing a biological resource and its associated knowledge for commercial utilisation.

Four. The proviso to section 7, as substituted with effect from 1 April 2024, exempts codified traditional knowledge, cultivated medicinal plants and their products, local people and communities of the area including growers and cultivators of biodiversity, and vaids, hakims and registered AYUSH practitioners practising indigenous medicine for sustenance and livelihood; and by section 7(2) the exemption for cultivated medicinal plants requires a certificate of origin from the Biodiversity Management Committee.

Five. Section 6 requires prior approval of the Authority before the grant of an intellectual property right for an invention based on research or information on a biological resource accessed from India, including material deposited in repositories outside India, or associated traditional knowledge.