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Gene Campaign's goal is to work for the empowerment of rural
and adivasi communities and for national laws and policies supportive of food
and livelihood security and increased rural incomes. The organisation aims to
raise a public debate on the ethics of the new biology and its applications,
and to formulate policy in this controversial area.
Gene Campaign has access to several kinds of skills
and expertise both in its staff and its
Executive Board.
It has substantial rural outreach through its core groups
and its Adivasi Kisan Resource Center, Jharkhand.
The Principal Investigator, Dr. Suman Sahai has a PhD
in genetics and several year of research and teaching experience and is
considered a leading expert on issues of Bioresources, Intellectual Property
Rights, Farmer's Rights. She has been closely involved with policy on
bioresources and drafting of the legislation in India.
As a scientist trained in genetics Dr. Sahai saw the threat
to genetic resources both in the lab and the field, coming from institutional
factors like IPRs, as well as unsustainable use and flawed policy. Gene
Campaign works for improvement in the areas, realizing that for development
societies, bioresources are the basis for food & livelihood security and income
generation.
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