JOIN USFarmers' deaths: Centre proposes new pesticides bill
After a spate of farmers' deaths reported due to spurious pesticides, the government has proposed a new bill to regulate their use by suggesting stiff penalties and imprisonment to violators.
The draft Pesticides Management Bill (PMB) 2017, released by the Agriculture Ministry last week, aims at ensuring availability of quality pesticides, allow its use only after assessing its efficacy and safety, minimise the contamination of agricultural commodities by pesticide residues and take necessary measures to restrict or prohibit their use to prevent risk to human beings, animals and environment.
The ministry has sought suggestions from stakeholders on the draft bill.
The new bill seeks to replace the 50-year-old Insecticides Act of 1968 which has been dubbed "archaic" by experts who have pitched for a fresh legislation at a time when states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana witnessed deaths of farmers due to use of spurious pesticides.
The PMB-2017 has provisions for maximum punishment of Rs 50 lakh and/or jail term up to five years for people importing or manufacturing pesticides without licence, distributing spurious pesticide or selling pesticides that are ineffective on a particular crop or has toxicity higher than the level specified.
The bill also retains the powers the Central government enjoys under the Insecticides Act, 1968, provisions that may disappoint states such as Maharashtra and Punjab which have been asking for greater control over sale of such substances in their jurisdiction.
The bill makes it mandatory for state governments to report all cases of poisoning to the Centre on a quarterly basis. It also allows the state governments to ban chemical pesticides for up to six months, as against the two-month ban under the existing law.
According to a 2015 study by industry lobby group FICCI, spurious pesticides account for 30% of the annual sales. It said that unmonitored use of toxic chemicals could lead to soil degradation, affect farm output, lead to ground water contamination and have adverse health impact on humans and animals.
A similar bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in 2008, referred to a Parliamentary committee for examination but relegated to the cold storage.