The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023 published in the Gazette of India by the Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India, was published on which date ?
- (a)13th June
- (b)03rd July
- (c)03rd August
- (d)13th September
Correct — C, 3rd August. The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023 received the President's assent on 3 August 2023 and was published in the Gazette of India the same day by the Ministry of Law and Justice (Legislative Department) as Act No. 10 of 2023. Parliament had cleared it days earlier — the Lok Sabha passed the Bill on 25 July 2023 and the Rajya Sabha on 1 August 2023 — so assent and gazette publication followed within 48 hours of the Rajya Sabha vote.
- (a)13th June — No stage of this law falls in June 2023. In mid-June the amendment Bill had not been passed by either House — the Lok Sabha took it up only in the monsoon session in July.
- (b)03rd July — A near-miss built on the same day-number as the correct answer, one month early. The Bill was still before Parliament in early July; it could not have been assented to or gazetted then.
- (d)13th September — Too late. By 13 September 2023 the Act had already been on the statute book for nearly six weeks — assent and Gazette publication were both on 3 August 2023.
The parent law is the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, India's statute for meeting its obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and, later, the Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing (2010). It created a three-tier structure: the National Biodiversity Authority at Chennai, State Biodiversity Boards, and Biodiversity Management Committees at the local-body level, which maintain People's Biodiversity Registers. The 2023 amendment is the first substantial rewrite of that Act.
For a date question, the reliable route is the legislative sequence rather than memory of a single day: a Bill is passed by both Houses, then assented to, then gazetted — usually within days. Here the Rajya Sabha vote was on 1 August 2023, so any option before that (13 June, 3 July) is impossible on the face of it, and a date five weeks later (13 September) is implausible because assent rarely lags that far behind passage. That leaves 3 August.
- Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023 — President's assent and Gazette of India publication both on 3 August 2023; notified by the Ministry of Law and Justice as Act No. 10 of 2023
- Passed by the Lok Sabha on 25 July 2023 and by the Rajya Sabha on 1 August 2023; the original Bill had been introduced in December 2021 and examined by a Joint Committee of Parliament
- It amends the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 — the law implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol in India
- Main changes: exempts registered AYUSH practitioners and users of codified traditional knowledge from benefit-sharing requirements, encourages cultivation of medicinal plants, eases the approval route for research and patent applications, and decriminalises offences by replacing imprisonment with monetary penalties decided by an adjudicating officer
- Unchanged three-tier structure: National Biodiversity Authority (Chennai) — State Biodiversity Boards — Biodiversity Management Committees, which prepare People's Biodiversity Registers
- 1992 — Convention on Biological Diversity adopted at the Rio Earth Summit; India ratifies it in 1994
- 2002 — Biological Diversity Act enacted; National Biodiversity Authority set up at Chennai in 2003
- 2010 — Nagoya Protocol on access and benefit sharing adopted; India ratifies it and hosts CBD CoP-11 at Hyderabad in 2012
- Dec 2021 — Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha and sent to a Joint Committee of Parliament
- 25 July 2023 — Lok Sabha passes the Bill; 1 August 2023 — Rajya Sabha passes it
- 3 August 2023 — President's assent; published in the Gazette of India by the Ministry of Law and Justice
Assent and gazette publication came two days after the Rajya Sabha vote — which is why 3 August, and not any of the other three dates, is the answer.
- Confusing the date a Bill is passed by Parliament with the date of Presidential assent or Gazette publication
- Assuming Biodiversity Management Committees were created by the 2023 amendment — they come from the 2002 Act
- Mixing the statutory Biological Diversity Act with the 'biodiversity hotspot' idea, which is a scientific classification, not a legal category
MPPSC likes the exact date, act number or amending year of a recent central law; UPSC almost never asks the date — it asks what a body created under the Act can legally do.
Consider the following statements : 1. In India, the Biodiversity Management Committees are key to the realization of the objectives of the Nagoya Protocol. 2. The Biodiversity Management Committees have important functions in determining access and benefit sharing, including the power to levy collection fees on the access of biological resources within its jurisdiction. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(c) Both 1 and 2
The same statute from the other side — what the Biological Diversity Act's local tier (Biodiversity Management Committees) does, and how it delivers India's Nagoya Protocol obligations.
How does National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) help in protecting the Indian agriculture? 1. NBA checks the biopiracy and protects the indigenous and traditional genetic resources. 2. NBA directly monitors and supervises the scientific research on genetic modification of crop plants. 3. Application for Intellectual Property Rights related to genetic/biological resources cannot be made without the approval of NBA. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(c) 1 and 3 only
The National Biodiversity Authority, the apex body created by the very Act amended in 2023 — its role in checking biopiracy and gatekeeping IPR applications on biological resources.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Act, 2023 amends which parent legislation?
- (a)Environment (Protection) Act, 1986
- (b)Biological Diversity Act, 2002
- (c)Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972
- (d)Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980
Answer(b) Biological Diversity Act, 2002 — the law that created the National Biodiversity Authority.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under the Biological Diversity Act, People's Biodiversity Registers are prepared by:
- (a)The National Biodiversity Authority
- (b)State Biodiversity Boards
- (c)Biodiversity Management Committees
- (d)The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Answer(c) Biodiversity Management Committees — the local-body tier documents local biological resources and associated knowledge.