On November 12, the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare unveiled the draft Seeds Bill, 2025, a significant piece of legislation aimed at improving the quality, sale, and certification of seeds in India. The government claims that this new bill will enhance seed quality, reduce the problem of fake seeds, and make it easier to import seeds while also protecting farmers’ rights. Ajai Rana, the Chairman of the Federation of Seed Industry of India, which includes many multinational seed firms, welcomed the draft. He called it a crucial move to modernize India’s seed regulations.
However, many critics argue the bill mainly benefits large seed companies rather than the farmers who grow crops. They point out that the bill centralizes power, which could undermine the role of state governments in agricultural matters.
### Need for Change
The existing Seeds Act of 1966 is considered outdated, as it hasn’t kept pace with changes in the seed industry over the last six decades. Currently, the Seeds (Control) Order of 1983 tries to address some of these shortcomings. Historically, there have been attempts to revise the Seeds Act, with previous proposals in both 2004 and 2019, but none succeeded.
### Key Features of the Bill
One of the significant changes proposed in the 2025 Bill is the requirement for QR codes on seed packets. These codes will provide farmers with essential information about seed health, expected performance, and producer certification. Malavika Dadlani, a former Joint Director at ICAR, believes that if implemented well, this system could greatly improve the quality control of seeds. There is also a provision for evaluation trials to check the usefulness of different seed varieties, which Dadlani sees as a positive step.
However, critics like Kavitha Kuruganti from the ASHA-Kisan Swaraj network argue that the bill promotes large seed companies instead of protecting local farmers. She warns that the proposed Central Accreditation System would simplify the process for these companies to operate without enough state regulation, making it easier for them to dominate the market.
### Centralized Control vs. State Authority
The draft Seeds Bill suggests forming a 27-member Central Seed Committee and a 15-member State Seed Committee for every state. Critics feel that the new bill diminishes state representation. Previously, the 1966 Act allowed for more state members in these committees, ensuring local voices were heard. Kuruganti points out that crucial agricultural decisions are increasingly made by the central government, sidelining state governments, which directly interact with farmers.
Moreover, while the new bill does include some provisions for regulating seed prices in emergencies, critics assert that states should have a say in these matters all the time, not just during crises. With rising seed prices, especially for vegetables and high-value crops, many farmers feel the need for price regulations year-round to keep their costs manageable.
### Discrepancies with Existing Laws
The draft Seeds Bill also diverges from the existing Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act, 2001. While it claims not to restrict farmers’ rights to save, share, or sell seeds, the definition of “farmer” in the new bill is narrower and could pose problems for community seed systems like Self-Help Groups and cooperatives, according to Kuruganti.
### Penalties and Compensation
The new bill suggests graded penalties for various offences related to seed sales, ranging from warnings to significant fines. Some experts believe that the penalties should be tailored based on the specifics of each case and decided by an independent committee. Currently, the bill does not include provisions for compensating farmers who suffer losses, which is a gap that critics like Kuruganti argue must be addressed.
### Moving Forward
Despite the controversies, some seed industry leaders feel optimistic about the Seeds Bill, asserting it could foster a better business environment while taking care of farmers’ and researchers’ rights. They hope that streamlined regulations will help ensure better seed quality at competitive prices.
Public feedback on the draft bill officially closed on December 11, and the bill is set to be introduced in Parliament for final approval in early 2026.
As farmers and agricultural advocates continue to voice their concerns, it remains crucial to strike a balance between modernizing the seed industry and ensuring farmers’ rights are adequately protected.
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