Bharat Beej Swaraj Manch (BBSM), a seed sovereignty advocacy platform, has criticised the proposed Draft Seeds Bill 2025 on grounds that it could undermine farmers' rights and India's agrobiodiversity. According to reports from Business Standard, the advocacy group warned that the bill may impact farmers' seed rights and traditional seed varieties, particularly 'landraces'. The Draft Seeds Bill, currently under pre-legislative consultation, does not extend Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) testing requirements to traditional varieties, with speakers noting that the certification system might be flawed.
The DUS test, designed in 1961 for genetically fixed breeder varieties, treats natural genetic diversity as a defect rather than a strength. As reported by Business Standard, BBSM urged Parliament to mandate specific amendments including recognising 'population-range characterisation' as an alternative to fixed DUS criteria, setting contamination and diversity tolerance as separate standards, and ensuring a custodian community's right to consent and recall before formal release of material. The group also expressed concerns over international trade commitments, specifically pointing to intellectual property provisions in the EU-India Free Trade Agreement.
According to Afsar Jafri of research group GRAIN, responding to questions on the Bill's impact, 'There are reports which indicate that a majority of the farmers still use local varieties. Only 30 per cent use private company seeds. This Bill could further strengthen the privatisation of seeds through registration and certification processes'. As reported by Business Standard, the speakers warned that the agreement could pressure India towards rigid plant variety standards, narrowing domestic farmers' rights.
In a separate development, the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA-Kisan Swaraj) along with 270 medical doctors and academics has written to the Union agriculture ministry urging a permanent ban on paraquat dichloride under the Insecticides Act. According to Business Standard, the Centre recently proposed banning the plant protection chemical widely used in paddy and maize crops, giving all stakeholders 30 days to respond to the draft notification. The signatories stated that paraquat is one of the most hazardous herbicides globally, with no known antidote for poisoning and links to thousands of deaths in India.
