Gazette Notification of the Indigenous Animal Breeds and New Animal Varieties

11^th October ,2019 New Delhi

India has been a mega biodiversity rich country and further rearing of domesticated animals of different species viz., cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig, camel, equines (horse, donkey, pony, mule, ass), yak, mithun, poultry (chicken, duck, geese) by animal keepers have been in practice since ages. The country possesses huge as well as diverse animal population distributed over a large range of geographical, ecological and climatic regions which play a vital role in improving the socio-economic conditions of rural masses.

The indigenous animal genetic resources are characterized involving different agencies in the country under the programmes of ICAR-National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), Karnal and further registered following a due process through a Breed Registration Committee constituted by Indian Council of Agricultural Research.So far, 184 indigenous breeds of livestock and poultry have been registered which include 43 of cattle, 16 of buffalo, 34 of goat, 43 of sheep, 7 of horses & ponies, 9 of camel, 8 of pig, 2 of donkey, 19 of chicken, and one each of yak, duck and geese. This mechanism is the sole recognized process for registration of livestock and poultry breeds at national level.

The advent of new era of national sovereignty over genetic resources under Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) requires a new approach to describe and catalogue animal and poultry breeds. India is party to several international treaties like CBD, WTO, TRIPS, Nagoya Protocol, Interlaken Declaration on AnGR, etc. and is committed to, 1) Protect the local animal genetic diversity; 2) Provide recognition to the developers/ breeders of animal breeds; 3) Implement the Global Plan of Action on AnGR; and 4) Ensure that the animal diversity is utilized to promote food security and remains available to future generations. All these require an authentic national documentation system of valuable sovereign genetic resources with well-defined characteristics.

The Gazette Notification will provide legal support to Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) of the registered breed and the varieties released and for developing mechanism for sharing benefits among the animal keepers.

(Source: Animal Science Division, New Delhi)