The Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) industry has expressed discontentment over the creation of separate biodiversity board in each state under the Biodiversity Act, stating that it is leading to a lot of confusion among the ASU manufacturers, further complicating the process of acquiring plant raw materials from the forest. With a view to address their growing uncertainty and fear, the experts have called for more clarification from the government before taking any action on this matter.

In fact, the Gujarat Ayurvedic Aushadh Manufacturers Association (GAAMA) along with other stakeholders is strongly pushing the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) to take pro-active measure to centralise the registration process rather than adopt a state-wise registration process. Moreover, they have also urged the NBA to come out with better explanation on some of the key provisions mentioned in the Biodiversity Act.

It is understood that this Act is aimed at promoting conservation, sustainable use and documentation of plant raw materials for the better good of the industry. In fact, this is an ideal way of chronicling details for cultivating plant raw materials as per the requirements of the industry. Interestingly, as per the Act, any firm which has registered with NBA needs to get the approval of the Authority first before accessing and obtaining any biological resources or knowledge associated with biological resources occurring within the country, failing which the firm will be charged for offense, with penalty under the Act.

This move stems from the fact that the NBA through the Boards set in states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,  etc have already started issuing notices to the manufacturers who have not registered with them, directing them to do so at the earliest.

According to Prabodh Shah, president, GAMMA, having a centralised registration process under the Act is more feasible for the industry than state wise registration mainly because the manufacturers will have to register themselves with almost all the key states that produce medicinal plants and raw materials, in case there is a shortage of the same in their respective state. A process that is going to be not only cumbersome for the industry but also a costlier affair for the industry.

He further elucidated that since the cost of the registration fees varies from state to state and in the light that they will have to register themselves with three to four major states for the availability of the raw material, it will sure leave a huge financial dent on the small scale manufacturers. Another point of contention is that they will also have to pay a tax on the utilised raw material by the end of the year based on the profit incurred by the manufacturers, which Shah feels is unfair and will cripple the industry further. He stressed that the tax regime should be fixed rather than being on profit margin.