Inadequate legislation

Pesticides Bill fails to address key issues

The Pesticides Management Bill, 2020, approved by the Cabinet for introduction in Parliament, is unlikely to live up to the expectations of stakeholders in the agro-chemicals sector despite having been drafted after prolonged deliberations over 12 years, and inputs from the parliamentary standing committee. In a bid to shield the farmers’ interests, the Bill seems to have willy-nilly tilted the scales against the industry. To ensure speedier compensation for losses suffered by farmers due to spurious, substandard or ineffective pesticides, the Bill moots setting up a dedicated fund of Rs 50,000 crore, raised from the fines charged from the defaulting