Farmers and industry suffer as pesticides regulations stay lax Recent developments in regard to the banning of 27 pesticides including 12 insecticides have brought to the fore the Union government’s cavalier approach to dealing with safety issues connected with their use. Based on a review a total of 66 pesticides, which are banned in two or more other countries, continue to be registered for use in India, in May 2020 it banned 27 pesticides. Vide an order dated February 15, 2023, it has now removed the ban on 24 of these. As for the remaining three, pesticide companies are not making them. Another disquieting development is the inordinate delay in enacting the Pesticides Management Bill to replace the Insecticides Act of...
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Category: Crop Protection
Govt flip-flop over banning pesticides
The Union Government has reversed its earlier decision on 27 pesticides, which were banned in May 2020 The manufacturing, import, sale, distribution and use of pesticides are regulated under the Insecticides Act (1968) with a view to preventing risk to human beings or animals and for matters connected therewith. The Registration Committee (RC) – set up under the Act – registers every pesticide after scrutinising the formula, verifying claims of efficacy and safety to human beings and animals and specifying the precautions against poisoning and any other functions. It is empowered to refuse registration of any pesticide if issues pertaining to safety have not been satisfactorily adhered to. From time to time, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW)...
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Regulatory assets are elephant in the room
Regulatory assets are created when state electricity regulatory commissions accept that the tariffs don’t cover discoms’ purchase cost but don’t raise rates The Power Ministry has taken two decisions which have a bearing on viability of the beleaguered power distribution companies (discoms). It has (i) warned state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs) against creating a pile of ‘regulatory assets’; and (ii) proposed a pool of efficient thermal power units more than 25 years old to act as a balancing source for the increasing share of renewable energy in the electricity grid. Mostly owned and controlled by state governments, discoms purchase power from public sector undertakings (PSUs) such as the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and independent power producers (IPPs) under long-term...
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Missing the woods for the trees
The thrust of the proposed pesticides Bill should be on incentivising innovators to invest in R&D and bring new crop protection solutions A major factor that could make or mar the Modi government’s mission of doubling farmers’ income has to do with the loss of anywhere between 10 and 30 per cent damage to crop production due to pests and disease. The use of pesticides is the most effective way of stemming these losses. The manufacture, import, distribution, and use of pesticides is regulated under the Insecticides Act, 1968, its main objective being ‘to prevent risk to human beings or animals and for matters connected therewith’. The government wants to replace this with a new law. The Pesticides Management Bill, introduced last...
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Get ‘data exclusivity’ right
Agro-chemical majors won’t find India attractive for investment, as long as the regulator micro-manages even production decisions In the agrochemical sector, out of the total import of technical material or active ingredients that go into making end-use formulations, imports from China alone account for about 50%. Given China’s frequent changes in rules, targeting of MNCs, its deteriorating trade and investment relationship with the US, European countries and Japan, and questions over its role in spread of Covid-19 globally, hundreds of MNCs are planning to exit that country. They would either go back to their country of origin, or look for relocation destinations such as India. The Modi government has strongly indicated its intent to bring them here. In the agrochemical...
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Green the soil
The Centre’s decision to ban 27 commonly-used pesticides in all three main categories, namely insecticides, fungicides and weedicides, is a move in the right direction The decision of the Centre to ban 27 commonly-used pesticides in all three main categories, viz. insecticides, fungicides and weedicides, in India has led to consternation among various stakeholders, particularly a certain section of the industry. To understand the issue and its implications, let us put a few facts in order. The manufacturing, import, sale, distribution and use of pesticides are regulated under the Insecticides Act (1968) with a view to prevent risk to human beings or animals and for matters connected therewith. The Registration Committee (RC) — set up under the Act — registers every pesticide...
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Pesticide ban – industry’s negative stance is untenable
The decision of the union government to ban 27 commonly-used pesticides in all three main categories viz. insecticides, fungicides and weedicides in India has led to consternation among various stakeholders particularly a certain section of the industry. To understand the issue and its implications, let us put a few facts in order. The manufacturing, import, sale, distribution and use of pesticides is regulated under the Insecticides Act [1968] with a view to prevent risk to human beings or animals, and for matters connected therewith. The Registration Committee [RC] – set up under the Act – registers every pesticide after scrutinizing the formula, verifying claims of efficacy and safety to human beings and animals and specifying the precautions against poisoning and...
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GM seeds unauthorized use – now it is Bt-brinjal
For India having limited land resource in the face of increasing demand for food [for rapidly expanding population and increased nutritional intake], there is an urgent need for manifold increase in crop output from every unit cultivable land area to increase supply. The use of genetically modified [GM] crops offers the possibility of reducing crop loss [and resultant increase in yield] by killing pests and combating disease in a manner which saves substantially on pesticide use and is environmentally benign. Yet, Bt cotton is the only GM crop so far allowed for cultivation in India. It is a genetically modified plant in which a gene from the soil bacterium, bacillus thuringensis [Bt], is inserted into the genome of cotton. It...
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Make in India – can’t be at farmers cost
Under its “Make in India” initiative, Modi – government is pulling all stops to give a boost to indigenous industry even if it means cutting down on imports. While, use of WTO compatible measures such as increasing import duty is welcome, it would raise many eyebrows if the government starts giving orders to stakeholders even with regard to their production/import decisions. This is precisely what it has done to manufacturers/importers in the agro-chemical sector. Before we look at the diktat, at the outset, a bit of background check is in order. According to a statement by the then Union Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar in Parliament, nearly 10-30 per cent of crop production — valued at about Rs.1,50,000 crore a year —...
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Why irresponsible registration of pesticide companies must be reined in
The Parliamentary standing committee on agriculture in its 2015-16 report—Impact of chemical fertilisers and pesticides on agriculture and allied sectors in the country—has expressed serious concern over unscientific, excessive use of pesticides. The Parliamentary standing committee on agriculture in its 2015-16 report—Impact of chemical fertilisers and pesticides on agriculture and allied sectors in the country—has expressed serious concern over unscientific, excessive use of pesticides. It laments that associated problems have not been properly addressed by central and state governments. Even as the committee exhorts the Centre for ‘a comprehensive action plan for ensuring environment sustainable manufacturing, import, sale and use of pesticides’, review of the Insecticides Act (IA),1968 and setting up of Pesticides Development and Regulation Authority (PDRA), it has...
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