Sustainable farming body seeks support of MPs for stronger pesticides bill

To reach out to various political parties to seek their support for a stronger Pesticides Management Bill in the parliament, which is likely to be introduced in the ongoing budget session, the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (Asha), a national network of farmers and agricultural scientists, wrote to various MPs and used Twitter on Monday to highlight the points to be incorporated in the bill.

The Asha activists posted tweets with hashtag #PesticidesBill by tagging MPs cutting across party lines to make them aware about various aspects related to pesticides used in the country before the bill is passed by both Houses of the parliament. The Union cabinet had cleared the bill on February 12. Asha asserts strong Pesticides Management Bill is in the interest of farmers, consumers and environment.

India is the fourth largest producer of pesticides in the world, out of which Punjab and some other states consume more than 70% of the chemicals. Paddy accounts for the maximum share of pesticides consumed at 26-28%, followed by cotton (18-20%). There are 269 pesticides registered in the country.

Asha convener Kavitha Kuruganti said, “We has sent a communiqué to the Union government desiring that the Pesticides Management Bill should set right many shortcomings in the existing regulatory regime and to clean up our food and farming systems. The sole objective should be to protecting human health and the environment from the risks posed by pesticides. All statutory appointments to the central pesticides board and the registration committee should clearly specify that members should be independent, completely devoid of any conflict of interest with the pesticide industry. Registration procedures should lay down some terms and conditions. The applicant need to specify whether a particular pesticide has been banned or severely restricted in two or more countries. If yes, such a pesticide should not be registered in India.”