Draft Pesticides Management Bill- Environment Friendly is it Farmers` Friendly !

The growth of the Crop is depend on the farmers hard work, good seed, proper irrigation, suitable soil and the  pesticides used for the health of the crop. The dealers of the pesticides generally deals with the farmers and the manufacturers used the technical of age old formulas brought from the other countries or where the patent expired and those technical's are in public domain. With the change of time, the need of the pesticides also changed.

In view of the these, the Government brought the draft pesticides management Bill. There are many pesticides manufactured from the old technical's. Though CIB had approved those, but the Agriculture Ministry in view of the farmers welfare introducing the new bill. How far that bill is effective. Speaks the Indian Pesticides Manufacturers. The views of the President of the association are;

A group of Indian Pesticide Manufacturers says that the proposed Pesticides Management Bill, which is likely to be finalized this month, will harm both farmers and the domestic industry by not making it mandatory for the active ingredients of pesticides to be revealed in the registration process.

“The draft Bill will allow importers to register readymade products without registering the active ingredients,” said Pradip Dave, President of the Pesticides Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India. He said that this would prevent Indian manufacturers from registering ‘me-too registrations’, and producing pesticides at a cheaper rate. “This means they [foreign manufacturers] will get total monopoly and can loot the Indian farmer.”

Mr. Dave pointed out that farmers were able to buy a pesticide from Indian manufacturers at less than half the rate as sold by importers or multi-national corporations. For example, Bispyribac sodium, a herbicide for paddy, was introduced in the market at ₹8,000 per kg by an MNC but is now sold by Indian manufacturers at ₹3,500/kg.

The Bill, a draft of which was made available for public feedback by the Ministry for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in February 2018, is intended to replace and update the Insecticides Act, 1968. The existing law mandates the registration of active ingredients, and allows for “me-too” registrations under Section 9(4).

However, in 2007, the Government started allowing importers to register new formulations while keeping active ingredients secret for a fixed period. Though this policy was challenged in the Gujarat High Court and struck down in 2013, importers have been reluctant to comply, Mr. Dave said.

Currently, the domestic pesticide market is valued at around ₹20,000 crore, of which importers hold 30 percent , according to the PMFAI. Mr. Dave said if the draft Bill was approved in its current form, it would demolish the concept of Make in India in the pesticides sector.

“This is not about intellectual property rights,” he insisted. “Most of these imported products are 25-30 years old, and their patents have long expired. By not registering active ingredients, they are effectively ever-greening their patents and harming the domestic industry.”