Maharashtra Gene Bank Policy Recommendations

Policy Recommendations

Policy Recommendations & Governance Directives

Translating scientific findings and community stewardship into institutional state policy reforms.

01

Separate Aquaculture from Traditional Inland Fisheries

State fisheries policy currently conflates commercial carp intensive aquaculture with traditional multi-species tank fisheries. MGBP urges a dedicated policy recognizing traditional Malguzari tanks as biodiversity commons, reserving breeding zones, and curbing invasive alien carp stocking in natural wetlands.

EVIDENCE BASE

281.8 ha restored tanks in Gondia/Bhandara showing 40% surge in indigenous fish species when invasive stocking was halted.

02

Digitize Farmer Variety Registrations & Benefit Sharing

Simplify the bureaucratic procedure under the PPV&FRA Act through regional decentralized facilitation cells. Ensure benefit-sharing royalties for commercial varieties derived from traditional landraces flow directly to village seed saver groups.

EVIDENCE BASE

54 farmer varieties registered and 996 accessions catalogued across 248 villages by MGBP consortium NGOs.

03

Formulate a State Grassland & Pastoral Policy

Classify semi-arid grasslands as distinct, climax biomes rather than revenue "wastelands". Legally prohibit fast-growing tree plantations on natural grasslands under CAMPA or afforestation schemes to protect pastoral grazing corridors and endangered grassland avifauna, including the Lesser Florican.

ACTION MILESTONE

Government of Maharashtra constituted the Animal Husbandry and Forest Joint Working Group in October 2020.

04

Full Devolution of Community Forest Rights (CFR)

Accelerate statutory vestment of Community Forest Rights under Section 3(1)(i) of FRA 2006. Hand over complete management of non-timber forest produce, transit permissions, and direct auction rights to Gram Sabhas, accompanied by technical capacity building in value addition.

EVIDENCE BASE

1,100 Gadchiroli Gram Sabhas exercising autonomous CFR management, generating sustainable revenue while regenerating 2,000 ha of native forest canopy.

05

Embed Traditional Millets in Nutritional Safety Nets

Mandate decentralized procurement of indigenous finger millet (Ragi), foxtail millet, and drought-hardy pulses at remunerative minimum support prices for inclusion in the PDS and Anganwadi meals to address childhood stunting and anaemia.

EVIDENCE BASE

Nutritional biochemical profiling of MGBP landraces and three-generation dietary surveys across 152 rural households.

06

Institutionalise the Central Biodiversity Database

Provide standing budgetary support for the central Maharashtra Gene Bank RDBMS portal hosted at IISER Pune, integrating People's Biodiversity Registers across all 28,000 Gram Panchayats with real-time geospatial environmental clearances.

CURRENT STATUS

Active PostgreSQL / PostGIS database accessible at mgb.iiserpune.ac.in.