Indian farmers, NGOs buck proposed seed bill

The Union government’s Seed Bill in India has run into rough road, with farmers and non-government organizations (NGOs) describing it as "anti-farmers."

Instead of the bill — which they have asked to be withdrawn right away — they are urging the immediate ratification of the Plant Varieties Protection and Farmers’ Right (PVP&FR) Act 2001, as this law they claimed "genuinely protects the interests of the farmers."

On account of crop failure, they also demanded the framing of a law under which farmers would get compensation.

Bharat Krishak Samaj (BKS), the ruling Congress Party’s farmers’ outfit, has also opposed the legislation. BKS executive chairman Krishan Bir Choudhary has written to the Congress Party Supremo Sonia Gandhi asking her to intervene.

Ms. Gandhi chose to take up the issue at the government level rather than at the political level. Using her position as the chairperson of the national advisory committee, Ms. Gandhi asked the Union Agriculture Ministry to review the bill which is already being reviewed by the House panel under the chairmanship of Prof Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajvadi Party.

Said Dr. Choudhary: "The bill seeks to create corporate monopoly over agriculture. The farmers will be reduced to non-entities and will have to depend upon domestic seed companies and MNCs for supply of high-priced seeds every year."

The bill proposes compulsory registration of "all kinds and varieties of seeds." It says that the seeds exchanged among farmers will be treated as "misbranded." In this context, Dr. Choudhary said: "Farmers use 80 percent of farm-saved seeds. Farm-saved seeds are exchanged freely among them… This law will prevent the farmers from using farm-saved seeds."

He said that according to 13 (b) the law shall apply to every producer of seeds except when the seed is produced by the farmer for his own use and not for sale. Article 43 empowers the central seed authority to regulate the exchange of farm-saved seeds. These the provisions in the proposed law are intended to terrorize farmers," he alleged.

He added that the law is silent about the compensation for crop failure to be paid to farmers. He said Bt cotton failed in many states and Mahyco-Monsanto has not paid any compensation to the farmers. There should be a provision in the law for the payment of compensation.

He alleged that the government is taking a false pretext of fulfilling it obligations under the World Trade Organization (WTO). The government has already fulfilled its obligation by amending the Patent Act for patenting of novel seeds. There is no further obligation. Rather, the WTO mandates to regulate imports of diseased seeds by applying sanitary and phyto sanitary (SPS) measures