JOIN US In a move to create employment avenues for nearly 1.5 lakh jobless youth, the Centre has ordered issuing of licences to sell insecticides only to agriculture and science graduates.
Existing insecticide dealers and retailers who are not science graduates will have to employ a person with the necessary qualifications if they want their licences to be renewed.
“Dealers and retailers have 2 years to comply with the new rules. If they fail, their licences will not be renewed,” Sanjeev Balyan, Minister of State for Agriculture, said here.
Balyan said the new rules were notified on November 15 last year and came into force from January 1 this year.
The rules were notified without much ado as the government had apprehensions
of pressure from the powerful insecticide lobby that could have created hurdles in the process.
“A person who applies for the grant of licence to sell, stock or exhibit for sale or distribute insecticides shall possess or shall employ a person possessing a graduate degree in Agricultural Sciences or Biochemistry or Biotechnology or Life Sciences or in Science with Chemistry or Botany or Zoology as the minimum qualification,” the Insecticides (Amendment) Rules, 2015, said.
Licences
The minister made it clear that physics graduates will not be eligible for licences to sell
insecticides.
Balyan believes besides creating job opportunities for such graduates, the move would also help farmers as they could expect a sale of insecticides on some scientific basis.
“A person having a degree in agricultural sciences or relevant streams could better advise farmers on the use of insecticides. It will not be a purely commercial transaction,” Balyan said.