Draft Seed Bill – Important Provisions & Significance – Explained Pointwise

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The Centre has come out with a new Seeds Bill, proposing mandatory registration of seed varieties & stricter punishment for violations. The draft Bill is aligned with current agricultural & regulatory requirements & will replace the Seeds Act, 1966 & the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983.
The draft Bill, 2025 seeks to regulate the quality of seeds & planting materials, ensuring farmers’ access to high-quality seeds at affordable rates, curbs the sale of spurious seeds & protect the farmers from losses, liberalize the seed imports & safeguard the rights of the farmers.

What is the need for a new seed law?

1. Outdated laws: The 1966 Act was designed for a largely public‑sector, low‑input agriculture; it did not match today’s reality of hybrid seeds, global trade, private multinationals and advanced breeding technologies.
2. Poor farmer protection: Farmers frequently suffered crop loss due to substandard or fake seeds, with limited legal recourse and weak enforcement against defaulting seed companies.
3. Lack of uniform quality control: There was no comprehensive, compulsory registration and VCU testing framework for all seeds, leading to variable quality and misleading claims in the market.
4. Weak penalties and enforcement: Low fines and limited criminal liability under old laws failed to deter sale of spurious or unregistered seeds, allowing repeat violations.
5. Need for traceability and transparency: Modern supply chains require QR codes, online traceability and national databases so farmers can verify the source and performance history of seeds, which the earlier regime lacked.
6. Balancing innovation and farmers’ rights: A new law was needed to both encourage private R&D and clearly protect farmers’ rights to save, reuse and exchange unbranded seeds, aligning with contemporary debates on seed sovereignty and IPR.

What are the important provisions of the Seed Bill?

1. The Bill establishes a comprehensive regulatory mechanism to oversee the import, production and supply of quality seeds in the country.
2. The Bill does not restrict farmers from sowing, re-sowing, exchanging or selling their own seeds, unless the seeds are sold under a brand name.
3. The Bill clearly defines farmers, dealers, distributors and producers as separate regulated entities, each with specific roles and responsibilities.
4. Institutional Structure: The Bill proposes the creation of a 27-member Central Seed Committee and a 15-member State Seed Committee to guide seed regulation.
   1. The Central Seed Committee can recommend minimum standards for germination, purity, traits, seed health and genetic purity for seeds sold in the market.
   2. The State Seed Committees may advise their respective governments on the registration of seed producers, seed dealers, processing units and nurseries.
5. Mandatory registration of seeds and actors:
   • All varieties of seeds for sale have to be registered and are required to meet certain prescribed minimum standards. For instance, for transgenic varieties of seeds, registration is to be obtained under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. This can bring greater accountability to seed companies.
   • Dealers, distributors, producers, nurseries, processing units and certification agencies must obtain registration or licenses.
6. Seed Testing and Regulation: The Bill mandates the establishment of Central and State seed testing laboratories for analysing the quality and characteristics of seeds.
   1. The Bill proposes that a Registrar be appointed to maintain a National Register of all seed varieties available in the country.
   2. The Bill makes field trials mandatory to evaluate the Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) of any seed variety before approval.
7. Penalties and Enforcement:
   • Offences are classified as trivial, minor and major, with graded penalties.
   • The Bill stipulates that violations can attract monetary penalties ranging from ₹50,000 to ₹30 lakh and can also lead to imprisonment for up to three years.
   • The roles of enforcement agencies, including those under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, are clearly defined for inspecting seed premises and seizing spurious seeds.
   • Minor violations are partly decriminalised, shifting to monetary penalties rather than jail terms in less serious cases.
8. Farmers’ rights and compensation:
   • Farmers retain the right to grow, save, use, exchange, share and sell farm-saved seeds and planting material, as long as they do not sell them under a brand name.
   • Farmers are eligible for compensation if registered seeds fail to perform as claimed, with liability on the producer as per prescribed procedures.
9. Market facilitation and corporate access: A Central Accreditation System allows nationally accredited seed companies to operate across multiple states without separate licenses, aiming to ease business but raising concerns about favouring large firms.

What is the significance of the Seed Bill?

1. Quality Assurance & Regulation:
   1. Compulsory Registration: The Bill makes the registration of all varieties of seeds (whether genetically modified or otherwise) compulsory. This ensures that seeds sold to farmers meet prescribed quality standards for germination, physical purity, and genetic purity before they enter the market.
   2. Preventing Adulteration: By establishing a robust system for inspection, testing, and certification, the Bill aims to curb the sale of spurious or low-quality seeds, which are a major cause of crop failure and financial distress for farmers.
   3. Establishment of a Central Seed Committee: It provides a legal framework for a national committee that will advise the government on seed policy, oversee registration, and standardize testing procedures across the country.
2. Protecting Farmers’ Rights & Compensation: 
   1. Compensation Mechanism: The most significant clause allows farmers to claim compensation from the seed producer or seller if the registered seed variety fails to perform as promised under expected crop conditions. This provides a formal legal recourse that was often complex or non-existent under the older 1966 Act.
   2. Protection of Seed Exchange: It explicitly protects the traditional rights of farmers to save, use, exchange, share, or sell their farm-saved seeds. This is crucial for maintaining traditional farming practices and biodiversity, ensuring that corporate seed registration does not restrict basic farming activities.
   3. Dispute Resolution: It proposes a structured mechanism for dispute resolution, usually involving a committee or an authority, to handle farmer complaints quickly without resorting immediately to lengthy court litigation.
3. Modernisation & Accountability of the Seed Industry:
   1. Data Collection and Traceability: Compulsory registration facilitates better data collection on seed performance, distribution, and usage. This aids in tracking seed varieties and ensuring traceability in case of defects or failure.
   2. Attracting Investment: A clear and consistent regulatory environment encourages both domestic and international seed companies to invest in R&D and bring advanced, high-yielding varieties (including those resistant to pests and diseases) to the Indian market, boosting agricultural productivity.
   3. Regulation of GMOs: While the Bill itself does not govern the safety and testing of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)—that is handled by the Environmental Clearance Committee (GEAC)—it mandates that once cleared, the commercial seed varieties derived from GMOs must also register and comply with quality standards.

What are some of the concerns & challenges related to the Seed Bill?

1. Challenges Related to Farmers’ Rights & Compensation:

   1. Ambiguity in Compensation: The Bill allows farmers to claim compensation if the seed fails to perform under expected conditions. However, critics argue the process for determining “expected conditions” and quantifying the extent of failure is vague, making it difficult for farmers to successfully prove their case. The compensation may not cover the total loss, including labor, fertilizer, and potential income.

   2. Burdensome Process: The proposed mechanism involves filing a complaint with a local committee and then potentially appealing to a state-level appellate tribunal. This process is seen as too complex and time-consuming for small and marginal farmers, effectively restricting access to justice.

   3. Erosion of Traditional Rights: While the Bill exempts farmers from registration for selling “farm-saved seeds,” there is a concern that regulatory oversight might still indirectly harass or limit traditional, local seed exchange networks that are vital for maintaining agro-biodiversity.

   4. Lack of Price Control: A major omission is the failure to include a strong mechanism for capping the price of proprietary seeds, particularly expensive hybrid and GM varieties. This leaves farmers vulnerable to price gouging by large corporations for high-performing, patented seeds.

2. Challenges Related to Regulatory and Enforcement Capacity:

   1. Infrastructure Deficit: Implementing compulsory registration and quality control for all seeds requires a massive upgrade in seed testing laboratories and trained personnel across all states. India currently lacks the necessary infrastructure and human resources for this scale of testing.

   2. Enforcement Capacity: The Bill relies heavily on Seed Inspectors to prevent the sale of spurious seeds. Given the high volume of sales and limited staff, effective checking and prosecution are major challenges.

   3. Defining “New Variety”: Clearly defining what constitutes a “new” variety for mandatory registration can be technically complicated, leading to bureaucratic delays and potential disputes with researchers and breeders.

   4. Impact on Public Sector: The regulatory burden imposed by the Bill could disproportionately affect public sector seed companies and research institutions, which often operate with thinner budgets and less bureaucratic flexibility than private entities.

3. Challenges Posed by the Seed Industry:

   1. Lax Penalties: Critics argue that the penalties for seed companies selling substandard or spurious seeds are often too mild compared to the massive profits generated. For large corporations, a fine may simply be considered a minor cost of doing business, rather than a strong deterrent.

   2. Lobbying and Influence: The highly commercial nature of the seed industry means there is constant pressure and lobbying to weaken provisions related to compensation and price regulation, ensuring the Bill remains industry-friendly.

   3. Protecting Intellectual Property (IP): The Bill must navigate a complex relationship with the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001. Ensuring that the registration process under the Seed Bill doesn’t conflict with or weaken the IP rights (or the exemptions provided to farmers) under the PPV&FR Act is a delicate legal and regulatory challenge.

Conclusion:
The new Seeds Bill tightens quality control and accountability across the seed value chain while formally safeguarding traditional farmers’ rights to save and exchange seeds, but it also raises debates about implementation capacity and the balance between farmer protection and corporate facilitation.