(a) Discuss different forms of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in India. 20 (b) Give an account of stomate anatomy and…

(a) Forms of intellectual property rights in India

India's IPR regime follows the TRIPS Agreement, with laws in each area.

• Patents (Patents Act 1970, amended 2005): twenty-year protection for novel, inventive, industrially applicable inventions, with product patents in all fields since 2005. Section 3(d) bars patents on new forms of known substances without enhanced efficacy (Novartis v. Union of India, 2013, on imatinib), and Section 3(j) excludes plants and animals. Compulsory licensing under Section 84 was first used in 2012 for a cancer drug (Natco's sorafenib).
• Plant variety protection (Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act 2001): breeder's rights for 15 years (18 for trees and vines), and farmers' rights to save, use, sow, exchange and sell farm-saved seed, except branded seed, with benefit sharing and farmer variety registration.
• Geographical indications (GI Act 1999): protect goods linked to origin, such as Darjeeling tea, Basmati and Alphonso mango.
• Trademarks (Trade Marks Act 1999) protect brands and marks.
• Copyright (Copyright Act 1957) protects literary, artistic and software works.
• Industrial designs (Designs Act 2000) protect the shape or ornamentation of articles, and the Semiconductor Integrated Circuits Layout-Design Act 2000 protects chip layouts.
• Trade secrets are protected by contract and common law, and the Biological Diversity Act 2002 governs access and benefit sharing for biological resources.

(b) Stomatal anatomy, cytology and factors controlling movement

Anatomy. A stoma is a pore in the epidermis with two guard cells, kidney-shaped in dicots and dumbbell-shaped in grasses, often with subsidiary cells. Guard cells lie at the leaf surface, and the pore opens into a substomatal cavity.

Cytology. Guard cells have a dense cytoplasm, small chloroplasts (with starch), many mitochondria, small vacuoles that enlarge on opening, few plasmodesmata (so they are symplastically isolated) and a thick, unevenly thickened wall with radially arranged cellulose microfibrils, which makes them bend outwards as turgor rises. The plasma membrane holds H⁺-ATPases and ion channels.

Mechanism. Opening needs K⁺ uptake. The H⁺-ATPase pumps protons out, hyperpolarising the membrane, and K⁺ enters through inward-rectifying channels with Cl⁻ and malate (made from starch through PEP carboxylase). Water potential falls, water enters and turgor rises.

Effects. Light: blue light acts through phototropins to activate the H⁺-ATPase, and red light acts through photosynthesis (falling CO₂); stomata open in light. Water deficit: abscisic acid, made in roots and leaves, raises guard-cell calcium, activates anion channels (SLAC1) and K⁺ efflux, so turgor falls and stomata close. CO₂: high CO₂ closes stomata, low CO₂ opens them. Temperature: moderate rise opens stomata and aids cooling, while very high temperature with high vapour-pressure deficit causes closure.

(c) Role of State Seed Certification Agencies

SSCAs are set up by state governments under Section 8 of the Seeds Act 1966, with the Central Seed Certification Board guiding standards. Their roles are: registering seed growers and seed producers and approving sources of seed; field inspections at critical stages to check isolation, roguing and varietal purity; supervising harvesting, processing and sampling; testing samples in seed laboratories for purity, germination, moisture and seed health, and grow-out tests to confirm genetic purity; issuing certificates and tags (white for foundation, azure blue for certified seed); maintaining records and supplying seed to farmers; and advising producers and training seed growers. They thus ensure that only genetically pure, viable and healthy seed reaches the market.