By: Rahul Koul
Last updated : July 23, 2021 10:01 am
With Pesticides Management Bill, 2020 all set to replace 50 years old Insecticides Act, 1968, both industry and academia have their own set of reservations
Criminalization of almost all the offenses related to pesticides manufacturers in the Pesticides Management Bill, 2020 is not conducive for business in India, says Dr. Ajit Kumar, Technical Advisor, UPL Limited who believes many undefined clauses could lead to misinterpretation of the proposed law that was introduced in the upper house of Parliament in March, 2020.
Speaking at a webinar organized by PMFAI and Krishak Jagat on 21st July 2021, Dr. Kumar touched upon around 15 flaws in the bill that has been now referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture for examination.
“PM Modi has himself acknowledged the role of agriculture in reaching the US $5 trillion economy. To attain the goal, the sector needs to be secured by policies and laws that reinforce an inclusive and enabling environment. Offenses must be decriminalized and made into civil in nature in line with Section 554 of the Companies Act 2013. Unfair revoking of the license of an entire manufacturing unit just because one offense has taken place needs to be addressed. Arbitrary prohibition and ban under given sections doesn’t augur well. Summons issues to the directors at the first offense itself, especially when there is no direct involvement is taking it a bit too far," said Dr. Kumar.
"Apart from that, the provision for price control will be a major deterrent in the introduction of new products. Import of formulation doesn’t provide a level playing field to Indian industry and must be scrapped. Another ambiguity is that products banned in India can’t be exported, thus denting India’s export potential. The rule for sale of certain pesticides through prescription has no rationale and so doesn’t the need for re-registration of already registered pesticides. Arbitrariness of a review process is another issue apart from a number of terms left undefined in the bill,” explained Dr. Kumar.
India must make technical grade registrations mandatory and stop importing readymade pesticides immediately, says Dr. Sandeep Singh, CEO, Farinsys Research.
“Technical grade chemicals have active ingredients and associated impurities. In the imported chemicals, we have relevant impurities that may result in undesirable residues in food, or cause environmental contamination. It is dangerous to have unregistered and unmonitored imported chemicals as the government can’t even ask for samples as it can monitor only on the basis of specifications. As per Insecticide Act, 1968, there is no monitoring of shelf life and minimum purity of technical used in the imported formulations. It doesn’t allow the monitoring of allowed adjuvants and quality of adjuvants. Comparatively, Indian chemicals are well monitored as compared to MNCs. The PMB 2020 must take all these aspects into consideration,” said Dr. Singh.
Speaking from the research perspective, Dr. Srinivas Kantevari, Senior Principal Scientist, Fluoro & Agrochemicals Division, CSIR - Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad feels India needs a national R&D programme on the pattern of China.
“Despite the use of modern pesticide products, there is a 42% loss in the crop yield due to pest attacks. Given the context, there are many areas for innovative interventions. Revisiting process chemistry of agrochemicals for yield improvement; effluent load reduction, and cost optimization; and process development of new generation agrochemicals. Plant based crop protection chemicals (botanicals) and hybrid formulations, and impurity profiling and analysis," said Dr. Kantevari.
"To bring innovations to India, CSIR-IICT is working closely with the chemical industry in delivering the crop protection technologies for crop protection agents at needy hours; interfering with chemistry for process improvements; exploring indigenously available botanicals as crop protection agents; and development of new protection agents. There are plenty of opportunities in generic and off patent agrochemicals. We have 26 active ingredients going off patent by 2022. Agrochemicals can emulate the pharma sector and start exploring collaborative R&D that can help us to achieve the targets. Nanotechnology based agrochemicals and pheromone application technology based crop protection options are being actively followed up by CSIR teams,” added Kantevari.
Talking about data protection in the context of agrochemicals in India, Dr. A Kuppusamy, Senior GM & Head-Regulatory Affairs, Coromandel International Limited opines, “There is no data protection or data exclusivity in India for the agrochemicals and pharma products other than patent protection period. There is no data protection as per Insecticides Act, 1968 and no provision or clause in the new PMB, 2020. Data exclusivity is a TRIPS Plus privilege that would hamper India’s economic interests and retard the efforts towards achieving Atmanirbhar Bharat. Since 20 years of patent protection is allowed in India, there is no need to have separate data protection after patent expiry. Delay in getting registration for manufacture of off patent generic products results in delayed entry into generics. Parliamentary panel must not not pay any heed to pressures as agreeing with TRIPS terms on data protection works against the interest of Indian farmers.”