Pariksha SaathiNBA disburses Rs 1.19 crore in access and benefit-sharing funds to 29 State Biodiversity Boards and one UT council
The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) has disbursed Rs 1.19 crore (Rs 1,18,61,655) under the Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) mechanism to 29 State Biodiversity Boards and one Union Territory Biodiversity Council, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said on 17 October 2026. The money comes from ABS contributions by companies for research and commercial use of agricultural biological resources such as maize, rice, pearl millet and cotton; because these were procured through markets or traders and individual benefit claimers could not be identified, it was allocated in proportion to the estimated cultivation area of the crops in each state. Maharashtra received the largest share (Rs 19,46,149), followed by Rajasthan (Rs 13,97,525) and Madhya Pradesh (Rs 13,32,250). The funds must be used only for activities under Section 32(2) of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The NBA said it has disbursed Rs 86 crore realised from the agriculture sector to date, and more than Rs 203 crore overall, ahead of COP 17 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Yerevan, Armenia, on 19-30 October 2026.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) was established in 2003 by the Central Government to implement India’s Biological Diversity Act, 2002. It is a statutory body of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that performs facilitative, regulatory and advisory functions on the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits from their use, and it is headquartered in Chennai.
Reference: National Biodiversity Authority official website
Check yourself: why was the money shared by cultivation area instead of being paid to individual benefit claimers?
The crops were procured through markets or traders, so individual claimers could not be identified; the NBA used the Expert Committee’s method of allocating in proportion to estimated cultivation areas from official agricultural statistics.
Revision task: from this release, note the amount, the number of boards, the crops, the top three states and the dates and venue of COP 17, and keep them apart from the standing facts about the NBA above.
Test yourself
Which state received the largest share of the Rs 1.19 crore ABS amount disbursed by the National Biodiversity Authority in October 2026?
Show the answer
Answer: Maharashtra
Maharashtra received Rs 19,46,149, followed by Rajasthan (Rs 13,97,525) and Madhya Pradesh (Rs 13,32,250); the amounts were allocated by the estimated cultivation area of the crops.
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