NAGPUR: Thirteen years after US multinational Monsanto launched Bt cotton seeds in the country, the government has woken up to the fact that the first version of the genetically modified crop was not patented in India.

Monsanto ended up earning huge royalties on the Bt seeds even without a patent, changing the economics of cotton farming in India.

In 2002, Monsanto came up with the Bollgard version of the seeds, which have an inherent resistance against bollworm, a common pest for cotton crop. The Mon-531 or cry1Ac gene, which was used in the seed, was not patented by Monsanto in India. In 2006, Monsanto launched the Bollgard II variety, which has a patent.

Since Monsanto does not have a patent for the Bollgard version, Indian scientists were free to use the same cry1Ac gene to develop indigenous varieties and supply them to farmers through government channels. However, the misinformation that Monsanto held the patent for the gene ended all such efforts.

In 2008, an indigenous seed developed by researchers at the University of Agriculture Sciences (UAS), Dharwad, Karnataka, too was found to contain the cry1Ac gene. However, under the assumption that Monsanto had a patent on this gene, Dharwad Bt was not used commercially on the directions of the ministry of environment and forests, which controls genetically modified plants.

TOI had reported the matter based on RTI findings by farm activist Vijay Jawandhia on June 7, 2015. After Jawandhia also took up the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi , union agriculture secretary Siraj Hussain had last month written to the director general of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR). The letter requested the agency to examine the possibility of using cry1Ac gene in developing Bt cotton varieties after obtaining requisite permissions from the genetic engineering appraisal committee (GEAC) under the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).

Dr S Ayyapan, DG ICAR, told TOI that a team is working on the proposal but further details can be divulged only at a later stage. Jawandhia says the ball is now in GEAC's court and it should grant permission at the earliest. Once indigenous Bt varieties are developed, the seeds now available at 800 for a 450 gram pack could be sold at 100 a kg, say experts. Also, after buying seeds the first time, farmers could save seeds from each crop for reuse next year, thus saving a major amount.

City-based Central Institute for Cotton Research (CICR) has developed 21 varieties using cry1Ac but its commercial launch is held up for want of clearance from GEAC.

The agriculture secretary's letter says it was accepted in a high-level meeting held last month that Monsanto's patent for the gene in the US had expired in 2012. In India, it did not have any patent at all. "It seems we were not able to take prompt action in making Bt cotton seeds with this particular gene or other genes available to our farmers," says the letter.

On August 19, additional commissioner (seeds) responded to a follow up letter by PMO, saying that the department of agriculture has suggested that ICAR examine the possibility of developing Bt cotton seeds after getting clearance from GEAC.

The second letter says it has been gathered that Monsanto does not have any patent for cry1Ac in India or Pakistan. The latter has, in fact, already approved 31 starlight line varieties for farmers to reuse in their fields.