Biology · Biotechnology and Its Applications · NEET
Yes. Biopiracy means using a country's bio-resources (plants, genes, traditional knowledge) without permission and without paying the people who developed them. Basmati rice was grown by Indian and Pakistani farmers for centuries, so when a US company patented it in 1997 as if it were their own new invention, this became the textbook example of biopiracy. For NEET, if the question says 'a new variety of rice patented by a foreign company though it was already present in India,' the answer is Basmati.
An American company obtained patent rights on Basmati rice in 1997 through the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). NCERT only expects you to remember three facts: (1) the year is 1997, (2) it was a US/American company, and (3) it went through the US Patent and Trademark Office. You do not need the company name for NEET.
Biopatent is the legal patent (ownership right) granted on a biological product, process, or organism. Biopiracy is the wrongful act of taking bio-resources or traditional knowledge from a country and patenting it without authorisation or payment. So the Basmati case is a biopatent that was granted, and the act of grabbing it from Indian farmers is the biopiracy. One is the document, the other is the unfair behaviour.
Indian farmers and indigenous people had identified, developed and used Basmati for a very long time. A patent by a foreign company could let that company control the name and market, block exports, or force payment for something Indians already owned by tradition. NCERT says there is 'growing public anger' that companies get patents for products that use genetic material and plants long developed by farmers of a specific region. This is why India challenged the patent and why bodies like GEAC and patent rules matter.
Basmati is a variety of RICE, not wheat. This is a common NEET trap. In the 2018 question the wrong options Lerma Rojo and Sharbati Sonora are WHEAT varieties, and Co-667 is a SUGARCANE variety. Only Basmati is the rice linked to the patent/biopiracy case, so it is the correct answer.
A 'new' variety of rice was patented by a foreign company, though such varieties have been present in India for a long time. This is related to
Use of bioresources by multinational companies and organisations without authorisation from the concerned country and its people is called
Try the real previous-year questions from this chapter — each with the answer and a full solution.
In 1997, an American company got patent rights on Basmati rice through the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Because NCERT uses it as the standard example of biopiracy and biopatents, and NEET 2018 asked it directly twice. Remember: old Indian rice patented as 'new' by a US company in 1997.
GEAC (Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, now Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee) decides on the validity of GM research and the safety of releasing GM organisms. It is a related concept in the same NCERT section.
No. Basmati is a traditional aromatic rice developed by farmers, not a GM crop. The issue here is patenting/biopiracy of an existing crop, not genetic modification.
