Biological Diversity (Amendment) Rules, 2025 Notified
Why focus: GS3 Environment — recent statutory Rules are high-probability for How-Many-Correct questions on BMC powers and origin certificates.
In News
What Happened
Why It Matters
Background
History & Context
What Changed
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Maintenance of Records: BEFORE, applicants had to submit manual self-declarations of their cultivation details to the BMC. NOW, the responsibility shifts to the BMC, which must proactively maintain a digital register of cultivated medicinal plants in 'Form 11' on a designated web portal.
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Application Procedure: BEFORE, growers used a manual or hybrid method to apply for a certificate. NOW, the process is 100% digital, requiring applicants to file 'Form 11A' via the web portal.
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Application Fee: BEFORE, the fee structure for cultivation certificates was ambiguous under the hybrid model. NOW, a nominal fee of INR 200 has been standardized for submitting Form 11A.
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Certificate Generation: BEFORE, certificates were physically issued by the committee. NOW, the system auto-generates a digital Certificate of Origin in 'Form 12', complete with a unique ID and QR code for instant verification.
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Timelines and Escalation: BEFORE, the BMC had a strict 15-day timeline to issue the certificate, failing which the applicant could escalate the matter to the State Biodiversity Board (SBB) or the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA). NOW, the 15-day timeline and escalation routes have been entirely removed, as the certificate is auto-generated based on pre-verified BMC records.
What Did NOT Change
The core legal principle established by the 2023 Act remains intact: biological resources harvested from the wild are still subject to strict Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) regulations and require approvals from the NBA or SBB. Furthermore, the foundational role of the Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs)—which operate at the local Panchayat and Municipality levels—as the primary custodians of biodiversity data remains unchanged.
Prelims Angle
NCERT Connection
Common Misconceptions
✗ Only naturally occurring wild medicinal plants are regulated by the Biological Diversity Act.
✓ Cultivated medicinal plants also require Certificates of Origin and are heavily monitored by local BMCs, a process which is now fully digitalised via Forms 11, 11A, and 12.
Because the 2023 Amendment exempted cultivated plants from Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) fees, many assumed they were completely deregulated. In reality, strict tracking is required to ensure wild plants aren't illegally sold as cultivated ones.
✗ The Certificate of Origin for medicinal plants is issued by the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA).
✓ The certification process is managed entirely at the local, grassroots level by Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) via a digital web portal.
The NBA is the apex body for biodiversity in India, leading to the assumption that it issues all biodiversity-related certificates, ignoring the decentralized three-tier structure of the Act (NBA, SBB, BMC).
Practice Questions
Q1
How Many CorrectConsider the following statements regarding the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Rules, 2025: 1. The responsibility of maintaining the cultivation records of medicinal plants lies with the State Biodiversity Boards. 2. The rules introduced a mandatory escalation mechanism to the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) if the Certificate of Origin is delayed beyond 15 days. 3. Under the Biological Diversity framework, cultivated medicinal plants are exempted from Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) obligations provided they have a valid Certificate of Origin. How many of the above statements are correct?
Q2
Match the FollowingMatch List I (Forms under Biological Diversity Rules, 2024/2025) with List II (Purpose): | List I | List II | | A. Form 11 | 1. Application by grower for Certificate of Origin | | B. Form 11A | 2. Digital register of cultivated medicinal plants maintained by BMC | | C. Form 12 | 3. Application for access to wild biological resources for commercial utilization | | D. Form 1 | 4. Digitally auto-generated QR-coded Certificate of Origin | Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Q3
Assertion & ReasonAssertion (A): The Biological Diversity (Amendment) Rules, 2025 eliminated the 15-day timeline and escalation routes to the State Biodiversity Board for issuing Certificates of Origin. Reason (R): The certificate generation process has been fully automated and is digitally generated based on pre-existing web-portal records maintained by the Biodiversity Management Committees. Select the correct answer from the codes given below: