In March this year, the Union Cabinet approved the Pesticides Management Bill (PMB) 2020, which was presented in the Rajya Sabha and aims to improve pest management Practices in the Country. Manufacturers, Farmers, academicians want the government to change the bill to make it more effective, make the registration committee and laboratries more accountable and improve training and awareness for farmers.
“The food needs of this country are increasing and the land is used for farming is decreasing. That crop yield has to increase is no brainer but we need to bring in new technology to agriculture to do that. We would like PMB 2020 to encourage the use of technology. Also Pesticides, which are key for increasing crop yield should not be in the 18% GST category and should be brought in the categories of fertilizers which attracts GST,” said RG Agarwal, founder chairman of Dhanuka Agritech.
For the Indian Pesticide Industry to progress, Industry leaders believe data protection provision need to be brought in India is a signatory to WTO and TRIPS aggrement International chemical firms don’t want to register their molecules in India because of absence of Data Protection which various agricultures commission have recommended and is widely considered to be neccessary for bringing pesticides with new technology in the country.
