Plant Biosecurity in India - Preparedness*

Plant biosecurity encompasses the policy and regulatory frameworks to analyze and manage risks in the sectors of plant life and health, and related environmental concerns. It encompasses the protection of a country from pests during transboundary movement of commodities, from emerging indigenous pests/diseases, introduction and release of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as well as from the use of pests/diseases/GMOs in biological warfare. The plant quarantine legislation in India is aimed to protect from the ingress of exotic pests during import. The Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage under the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture is the apex body for implementation of plant quarantine regulations and deals with all related issues. The Department of Biotechnology under the Ministry of Science and Technology, through its various committees takes care of the biosafety issues in dealing with GMOs and the Ministry of Home Affairs presently deals the issue of biological warfare. Critical issues that need to be addressed include upgradation of quarantine facilities, strengthening the risk analysis mechanism, development of pest database and standard operation procedures and research prioritization. There is an urgent need to work on exotic and emerging diseases with a focus on developing early warning system and risk analysis models. The need for developing a National Biosecurity Policy and a strategy for effective convergence of related activities of all stakeholder departments and ministries is the need of the hour under the present global scenario