CUTS holds farmers’ rights

City-based NGO, Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), recently held workshop on ‘Access Benefit Sharing and Prior Informed Consent’ regarding the rights of farmers, at the Rotary Sadan. Chennai-based environmental lawyer Bharat Jairaj discussed the possible lacunace in implementation of the benefit sharing and prior informed consent clauses in the Biological diversity Act, 2002, at the seminar.

The two-day workshop was attended by RV Anuradha, freelance consultant on biodiversitgy issues and farmers’ issues; Prof N. Sen from the department of Business Management, University of Calcutta; Dr. D.K.Hore of the national Bureau of Plant Genetic Research, Shillong; Dr. Ghayur Alam, director, Centre for sustainable Development, Dehra Dun; Dr. Shilanjan Bhattacharaya from the department of Zoology, Vivekananda College; Kamalesh Adhikary, from the South Asian Watch on Trade Economics and Environment; Dr. Bala Ravi from the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation; Dr. D. Deb from the Centre for Interdisciplinary Kolkata and Dr. Ashish Ghosh of the Centre for Environment and Development, Kolkata, among others.