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Joint secretary (seed) hints at fresh look at legislation at PHDCCI meet
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Our Bureau, Mumbai
March 31 , 2015
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The ministry of agriculture has recently decided to revisit the 'Seed
Bill' that has been languishing for over a decade in Parliament. The
step is being taken to transform the seed sector for good, after
considering the current ground realities of the seed sector.
Presiding
over a National Conference on “Indian Seed Industry-Challenges &
The Way Forward” under the aegis of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry
here recently, R K Singh, joint secretary (seed), ministry of
agriculture, said that his ministry would reinitiate the dialogue
process afresh to enact the new seed legislation in which the regulatory
burdens to test the quality of seeds could be increased.
Without
prescribing a date by as to when the new legislation would be drafted
for Parliamentary approvals, the joint secretary said that no guarantee
could be given for its definite enactment but the decision had been
taken to revisit the old draft bill so that it is evolved in to a
disruptive legislation to serve and suit the modern requirements of the
neo and emerging agriculture sector.
The Bill would also have
provisions for registration of seeds developed and evolved through host
of R&D exercises and it might prescribe for penalties and
compensations, if the seeds are mis-branded and mis-represented
including falsely and fictitiously branded, indicated Singh adding that
government would explore all possibilities through in-depth consultation
process with all stakeholders to make the new Seed Bill user friendly
by all standards.
The PHD Chamber also aired the views of the
chairman and co-chairperson, agribusiness committee, PHD Chamber N M
Kejriwal and Priyanka Mittal including the panelists Dr. Arvind Kapur,
chief
executive officer, Rasi Seeds (P) Ltd:, Dr. D K Yadava, head and
principal scientist, division of seeds science and technology, IARI, and
Dhiraj Pant, director of Indian Regulatory Affairs, Monsanto India, who
expressed that fairer and unbiased regulatory mechanism should be put
in place to regulate the seed and agriculture sector through transparent
manner and demanded an earlier biotechnology regulatory authority for
the genetically modified crops and the like.
The Additional Chief
Secretary & OSD, Government of West Bengal Dr. Atanu Purakayastha
inaugurated the Conference in which the Vote of Thanks proposed by the
Secretary General, PHD Chamber Saurabh Sanyal.
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