In BUSINESS STANDARD
MNCs will dominate if Seeds Bill adopted: Farmers' Associations
New Delhi, June 29 :Several farmers associations, including the Bharat Krishak Samaj, have raised concerns over the Seeds Bill saying it would increase the domination of multi-national seed companies in India and may force farmers to pay royalty on hybrid seeds.
"The Indian farmers will lose their rights on using seeds of their choice and it would mainly promote interests of the multi-national firms," BKS Chairman Krishan Bir Chaudhary said.
The bill would serve the interests of firms producing genetically modified (GM) seeds in the country, he added, saying the bill may force farmers to pay royalty on hybrid seeds.
The government tabled the controversial Seeds Bill in the Rajya Sabha in December 2004 and later it was referred to the parliamentary standing committee on agriculture for review. The standing committee took about two years to review the Bill and had submitted its report in 2006.
The report is still pending with the government and is expected to be intoduced in the coming session of Parliament.
Chaudhary said the bill would also jeopardise the country's food security. "By continous use of hybrid seeds, the farmers would be gradually obliged to buy seeds from the MNCs," he warned. There is no traditional seed for cotton available in the market, he added.
However, supporting the Bill, a former Member of National Commission on Farmers, R B Singh, said it would check illegal selling of hybrid seeds, sold by private players with their own brand names but actually developed by state-owned companies.
"As per the bill, there is a provision to do DNA test of the seeds which will help identify the real developer," Singh noted.
Greenpeace (India) campaign manager Rajesh Krishna said, "The new bill will promote and facilitate the business of multi-national seed companies."
The real motive of the bill is not to provide quality seeds to the farmers. Instead it could result in scarcity of natural seeds, he said, adding that it would lead to a lot of litigation as multi-national seed firms can claim intellectual property rights to the seeds that farmers use.
On the litigation issue, Chaudhury added that as per the World Trade Organisation obligations, India had passed Plant Variety Protection and Farmers Rights Act (PVPFRA) under which interests of breeder and farmers have been protected.
Chaudhary said in India 'Bt gene' is being used in hybrid varieties, but in countries like China it has only been used to improve the natural seeds so that farmers are not dependent on private companies for hybrid seeds always.
