Confused and weak

The nba and the central and state governments will have the power to arbitrarily decide the nature and extent of benefit-sharing. Local communities seem to have little say in implementation.

They cannot, for example, oppose patents on biological material taken from them, nor have they any say in what 'equitable' sharing of benefits will be. What started out as an

effort to make a participatory, enabling legislation has ended up as yet another law framed by bureaucrats, where the local communities are left out of the general scheme of things

apparently set in place for them. _Suman Sahai is convenor of Gene Campaign, India, and was part of the expert committee that prepared a draft law on biodiversity_