Seeds Bill, 2004 is anti-farmer…..D K Singh , Ravish Tiwari
About five years after Sonia Gandhi raised a red flag on the Seeds Bill, 2004, on the grounds of a growing perception that it was anti-farmer, the Agriculture Ministry is preparing to introduce an amended version in the current session of Parliament.
However, the Seeds Bill, 2010, reportedly also falls short of Congress expectations, and it has joined the Left and farmers organisations in demanding more changes in it.
Leading the opposition is the Congress regime in Andhra Pradesh. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar planned to bring the amended Bill in the last session of Parliament, but the move was scuttled after Andhra Congress leaders met PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia to press for more changes in the Bill.
At a meeting convened by Pawar to evolve consensus on the proposed Bill on Wednesday, Andhra Agriculture Minister N Raghuveera Reddy, accompanied by many Congress MPs, demanded setting up of a regulator to fix prices and royalty, taking into account intellectual property rights.
You cannot have a free market situation without a regulator, Reddy said after the meeting, which was also attended by agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and CPI leader D Raja, among others.
Pawar was said to be inclined to accommodate most of the demands, but the crucial issue of seed price regulation and penalty provision against offences by companies remained contentious. Pawar asserted pricing should be determined by market forces, and that it would be difficult to ensure price control.
While Pawar has been pushing the Seeds Bill since 2004, the Congress has always had reservations about it. In an October 2005 letter, Sonia in her capacity as NAC chairperson had suggested several changes. There is a growing perception that the Seeds Bill, 2004 is anti-farmer and that it favours the seed industry and large seed breeders, including MNCs, she had stated. (In the Bill) Government has no mechanism to control prices… Seed suppliers are under no obligation to ensure reasonable seed supply to farmers.