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Informist, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025

 

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--Farm secy: Will release a draft pesticide bill soon, seek public comments 
--CONTEXT: Agriculture Secretary Chaturvedi speaking at FICCI's AGM 2025 
--Farm secy: Draft pesticide mgmt bill for stricter action on spurious pdts 
--Farm Secy: Minor lapses to be decriminalised under new pesticide bill
--Farm Secy: Digital traceability of pesticides from producer to farmer must
--Farm secy: Working on cutting pesticide, chemical use to boost farm exports
--Farm Secy: Rabi sowing progressing well, to offset kharif crop losses 
--Food processing secy: Working on 2nd round of PLI for industry 
--CONTEXT: Food processing secy Joshi's comments at FICCI AGM 

 

By Afra Abubacker and Sagar Sen

 

NEW DELHI - The government plans to amend the existing pesticide law and will soon release a draft Pesticide Management Bill for public comments, Farm Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi said. "As you know, the Seeds Act and Pesticides Act are from the sixties, and we have not made any amendments after the agricultural ecosystem changed a lot. Many of these provisions are redundant, many of them need a relook," he said.

 

On Nov. 12, the government released the draft Seeds Bill, 2025, which seeks to replace the Seeds Act, 1966, and the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983. It aims to regulate the quality of seeds for sale and import, ensure the availability of certified seed varieties, and streamline the legal framework governing production and trade.

 

The draft Seeds Bill and Pesticide Management Bill are expected to be tabled in the upcoming Budget session after consultations with states, farmer groups, and industry, Chaturvedi said. He was speaking at the 98th Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

 

The Pesticides Management Bill, 2020, introduced in Parliament in 2020, aims to regulate the pesticide value chain to ensure the availability of safe, quality-assured pesticides. The bill seeks to replace the Insecticides Act of 1968.  

 

The draft pesticide bill will introduce stricter penalties for spurious and unregistered pesticides, while decriminalising minor lapses such as delayed licence renewals or late filing of returns. "The point is that there has to be decriminalisation in some aspects. But in some aspects, there should be stricter punishment," the secretary told Informist on the sidelines of the event. "Not doing some filing returns in time, not renewing the license in time, these are decriminalised," he added.

 

The draft bill also aims to mandate end-to-end digital traceability of pesticides from manufacturers, dealers, retailers, and farmers. This will curb the circulation of products manufactured by illegal entities, Chaturvedi said. These reforms are a part of a broader effort to reduce excessive pesticide and chemical use and boost India's agricultural exports.

 

On crop outlook, Chaturvedi said that rabi sowing is progressing well, supported by full reservoirs and good soil moisture after an above-normal monsoon. "Rabi is progressing at very satisfactory levels, and whatever little bit dip which would have caused because of floods and other sorts of disasters in the kharif season will be more than offset in rabi and we will have a good crop overall in the country," he said. This will help keep food inflation stable in the near term, he added.

 

At the same event, Food Processing Secretary A.P. Das Joshi said the government is working on a second round of the Production-Linked Incentive scheme for the food processing sector. He said the first such scheme had delivered strong growth in investment, employment, and exports, but several food segments remained uncovered and could be included in the next phase. The first round of Production-Linked Incentive scheme for the food processing industry was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2021 with a budget of INR 109 billion, to be implemented from 2021-22 to 2026-27.  End

 

Edited by Ashish Shirke

 

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