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Informist, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025

 

By Pallavi Singhal

 

NEW DELHI – The Centre's draft Seeds Bill, 2025--released last week for public consultation--has attracted criticism from farmers' groups, agriculture economists, and some sections of the seed industry, who say the proposal fails to address long-standing concerns around farmer protection, intellectual property, and state-level autonomy.

 

According to the government's statement released alongside the bill, the amendment aims to regulate the quality of seeds and planting material, curb the sale of spurious and poor-quality seeds, and ensure farmers' access to good quality seed at affordable rates. It also promises to "protect farmers from losses," liberalise seed imports for innovation, and improve transparency across the supply chain.

 

One notable clause in the bill gives farmers the right to "grow, sow, re-sow, save, use, exchange, share or sell" their farm-saved seeds--but only under the condition that they do not sell them under a registered brand name. The bill proposes a structure of seed committees at the central and state levels to oversee registrations, variety approvals, and quality control. 

 

It also seeks to ease the regulatory burden by decriminalising minor offences in seed quality violations--a move the government argues will reduce compliance costs.

 

But farmers' organisations term the protections are superficial. Ramandeep Singh Mann, a prominent leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, called the draft "inadequate" from the farmer-safety standpoint. According to him, the bill offers no remedy if seeds do not perform as claimed. "There is no clause where compensation for farmers who received spurious seeds is mentioned even when it has been a long standing demand," he said. Mann argues that without compensation, regulatory penalties alone will not protect farmers.

 

The draft has introduced a graded penalty system while seeking to decriminalise minor offenses to reduce regulatory burdens on seed companies. The penalties are categorised as minor, moderate, and major and can attract up to 3 years in jail and INR 3 million in penalties for major offences. 

 

According to Mann, the amendment must also address issues of partial failure--when only some seeds in a batch germinate--as well as a dispute-resolution framework for farmers. "The bill does not include any new redressal mechanism for farmers who now have to go to consmer courts to seek help." For small or marginal farmers, Mann argues, this is neither fair nor practical.

 

Mann also pointed out that state governments' rights are still weak under the draft, saying the Centre retains too much power over regulation.

 

The bill proposes to set up a centralised accreditation system for granting of licences, doing away with the current provision of individual states doing the same. It focusses on traceability, entrusts the responsibility of price control to the central government, and also deregulates the power of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and State Agriculture Universities to approve variety trials. While State Seed Committees are formally part of the structure, their real powers seem limited. The ultimate regulatory levers such as suspension of registration rest significantly with the Central Seed Committee, the bill shows. 

 

Agriculture economist Deepak Pareek has called the draft a "bad bill", warning that it could discourage investment in seed research and development. He argues that the provisions for intellectual property protection are too weak, making both domestic and global companies hesitant to introduce high-value innovations in India.

 

Pareek also says the penalties for selling spurious seeds are not strong enough to deter counterfeit material and he criticises the bill for centralising too much regulatory power with the government, which can notify traits, vigour, and other parameters of seed varieties. "This places excessive control with bureaucrats rather than researchers."

 

He has also flagged concerns over data protection, noting that while the bill demands extensive information from companies, it does not specify how that data will be safeguarded. "With all this, which global company will sell their seeds in India?" he questioned.

 

A senior executive at a domestic seed company, who requested anonymity, said that with the provision of farmers being allowed to save, use, exchange, or sell farm-saved seed as long as it isn't branded, anyone can become a seed-producing farmer and simply replicate research-based seed. "There's no real safeguard against intellectual property theft," he said. 

 

However, not all in the seed sector are critical. Ajai Rana, the chairman of the Federation of Seed Industry of India and CEO of Savannah Seeds, welcomed parts of the bill, as per a statement. He praised features such as a recognition system for research-driven companies and an emphasis on making it easier to do business. He said the Federation of Seed Industry of India will formally submit its feedback by the deadline for public comments.

 

The agriculture ministry has sought public comments on the draft Seeds Bill, 2025, by Dec. 11. After consultations with stakeholders, the government may incorporate revisions before introducing the bill in Parliament for approval.   End

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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