Skip to main content

Maharashtra pesticides bill 'fails to address' agrochemicals usage problem of farmers

Counterview Desk 
The civil rights group, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) India, has said that the Maharashtra government bill to amend Insecticide Act, 1968, suggests it has admitted how misbranded or substandard pesticides are being manufactured and sold in the State. The bill seeks to punish manufacture and sale of adulterated, non-standard or misbranded insecticides.
However, PAN India regrets, the bill does not respond to the problems faced by farmers with regard to usage of agrochemicals. It insists, the State government should include a provision in the bill to compensate farmers for the losses incurred by them due to adulterated, non-standard or misbranded insecticides as also "a procedure for filing and dealing with farmers' complaints and investigation for assessment and evaluation of losses due to insecticides.

Text:

The Maharashtra government introduced a bill in the legislative assembly on 8th August 2023, to amend Insecticide Act, 1968 in its application in the State. This is quite a surprise, given that the proposed amendment is very focused, and the problem, which it tries to address, is not new. Through this amendment, though, Government admits that misbranded or substandard pesticides are being manufactured and sold in the state. Maharashtra, through this Bill, is seeking to punish manufacture and sale of adulterated, non-standard or misbranded insecticides. The amendment simply wants punishment to be cognizable and non-bailable. It's that simple. PAN India urges Maharashtra to expand this amendment, to address other challenges as well.
Pesticide Action Network (PAN) India believes that the government of Maharashtra has taken a crucial step, given that Insecticides Act, 1968 does not respond to the problems faced by farmers with regard to usage of agrochemicals. “This is a clearly acknowledgement of the challenges that are not addressed by the Insecticides Act, 1968. This acknowledgment is in addition to previous correspondence from Maharashtra and other States seeking permanent ban on certain insecticides, and that pesticide regulation needs to be strengthened”, said Dr. Narasimha Reddy, Public Policy Expert and Advisor to PAN India.
Surprisingly, this Maharashtra amendment does not seek to increase fine and jail punishment, beyond the current low levels found in the Insecticides Act, 1968. Even though, Maharashtra government, in a Statement with Amendment Bill, flags this as serious issue, which is causing losses to farmers and also leaving residues, yet it does not propose to raise the fine for offence which can go up to 5 thousand rupees only and imprisonment of 6 months. Obstructing a pesticide inspector can get the offender into more trouble, than selling misbranded or spurious pesticide. This offence can lead up to a fine of 50,000 rupees and two-year imprisonment.
PAN India urges government of Maharashtra to amend and increase the fine and imprisonment for the offence, which it wants to be non-bailable and cognizable. It should be at least Rs 5 lakh of fine, with 5 years of imprisonment for the first offence. Second time offence should be punished with double the fine and imprisonment.
PAN India, further, urges the government of Maharashtra, to include a provision in the Amendment Bill, to compensate farmers for the losses incurred by them due to adulterated, non-standard or misbranded insecticides. The bill can also include a procedure for filing and dealing with farmers complaints and investigation for assessment and evaluation of losses due to insecticides.
Along with this Insecticide Amendment Bill, Maharashtra government has introduced bills to punish producers, manufacturers, distributors, dealers and sellers are engaged in production, manufacture, distribution or sale of adulterated, non-standard or misbranded seeds and fertilizers. It has also proposed payment of compensation for the loss incurred by the farmers due to use of adulterated, non-standard or misbranded seeds and fertilizers.
“Since the Maharashtra government has recognized the residual effect of insecticides as hazardous to human health and causes environmental pollution, an amendment to fix liability has to be provided for the amendment bill” added Dr. Reddy.
“Given the effort from an India state regarding regulation of pesticides, PAN India believes that it is high time the Pesticide Management Bill 2020 is passed and enacted urgently after filling the lacunae that are already pointed out by PAN India and many other independent experts”. Said A.D. Dileep Kumar, CEO of PAN India. He added that, “As the half a century old Insecticides Act 1968 is unable to address and handle the multitude of issues related to pesticides regulation, and given the novel understanding of pesticide toxicity and its adverse effects, more robust and updated legislation is required to protect citizens and the environment from adverse effects of pesticides”.

Background additional information

  1. Previously, Government of India has been trying to update the legislation on pesticide regulation since 2008. Much later, Union Cabinet of India had approved the new Pesticide Management Bill in February 2020. Though the 2020 draft bill has some remarkable provisions such as those for monitoring of pesticide poisoning and compensating legal heirs of victims, it did not address many critical issues of technical aspects. PAN India already raised a slew of concerns regarding the bill, and also gave lot of suggestions.
  2. In 2017, in Maharashtra Vidarbha region, especially in Yavatmal district, there were several pesticide poisoning reported with at least 83 dead, while about 1,200 have been chronically affected.
  3. Maharashtra government wrote to the central government to ban 5 pesticides, implicated in the poisoning episode, by a Task Force set up by the government.
  4. Maharashtra government has previously communicated to the Union government about spurious and illegal Ht Bt cotton seeds and related glyphosate usage.

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Designing the edge, erasing the river: Sabarmati Riverfront and the dissonance between ecology and planning

By Mansee Bal Bhargava, Parth Patel  Across India, old black-and-white images of the Sabarmati River are often juxtaposed with vibrant photos of the modern Sabarmati Riverfront. This visual contrast is frequently showcased as a model of development, with the Sabarmati Riverfront serving as a blueprint for over a hundred proposed riverfront projects nationwide. These images are used to forge an implicit public consensus on a singular idea of development—shifting from a messy, evolving relationship between land and water to a rigid, one-time design intervention. The notion of regulating the unregulated has been deeply embedded into public consciousness—especially among city makers, planners, and designers. Urban rivers across India are undergoing a dramatic transformation, not only in terms of their land-water composition but in the very way we understand and define them. Here, we focus on one critical aspect of that transformation: the river’s edge.
Post a Comment
»

Relevance of historical foot marches like Dandi and Salt march in achieving developmental goals in India

By Bharat Dogra  India has a great tradition of organizing foot marches, including some which become historically very important, the most obvious example being the Dandi Salt March under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi which is a very important chapter in the freedom movement of India.
Post a Comment
»

FSSAI defies Supreme Court order on food warning labels, citing 'trade secrets' for withholding vital information

By A Representative   India’s food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), is facing strong criticism for deliberately delaying the implementation of crucial warning labels on High Fat, Sugar, and Salt (HFSS) food products. This comes despite a clear Supreme Court order on April 9, 2025, which mandated the completion of the "entire exercise" within three months. Adding to the controversy, the FSSAI is reportedly hiding expert reports and over 14,000 public comments under the pretext of "trade secrets."
Post a Comment
»

Ecological alarm over pumped storage projects in Western Ghats: Policy analyst writes to PM

By A Representative   In a detailed letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, energy and climate policy analyst Shankar Sharma has raised grave concerns over the escalating approval and construction of Pumped Storage Projects (PSPs) across India’s ecologically fragile river valleys. He has warned that these projects, if pursued unchecked, could result in irreparable damage to the country’s riverine ecology, biodiversity hotspots, and forest wealth—particularly in the Western Ghats.
1 comment
»

Bridge collapse near Vadodara fuels demand for urgent repairs in Amreli

By A Representative   The tragic collapse of a bridge near Vadodara, which claimed more than 10 lives, has intensified calls from social workers for immediate repairs to a dilapidated and dangerous bridge on the Amreli-Rajkot highway in Amreli district.
Post a Comment
»

Civil rights coalition condemns alleged abduction of activist Samrat Singh by Delhi police

By A Representative The Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), a collective of civil and democratic rights organisations, has strongly condemned what it describes as the illegal abduction of psychologist and social activist Samrat Singh by a team of Delhi Police officials. The incident occurred on the evening of July 12, 2025, at Singh’s residence in Yamunanagar, Haryana.
Post a Comment
»

Radhika’s killing and the illusion of progress: A grim reminder of our communal codes

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  A young woman, a national-level athlete, was allegedly murdered by her father in Gurugram—initially portrayed as a case of wounded pride, mocked by locals for relying on his daughter's earnings. Yet deeper facts reveal a disturbing contradiction: this father lived comfortably, owning and renting out multiple houses in a posh locality. If he could invest in her education and coaching, why resent her success?
Post a Comment
»

High tree mortality rates in plantation drives: Can deforestation be prevented through CAMPA?

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  Our policies—especially those related to forests—are based on the assumption that we can regenerate natural resources after consumption. The Compensatory Afforestation Programme Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) reflects this idea. But can we truly restore lush green forests after clearing millions of acres? What has CAMPA actually achieved so far?
Post a Comment
»

Primary sources of the underground Naxalite movement (1965–71): An analytical compilation

By Harsh Thakor*  Voices from the Underground: Select Naxalite Documents (1965–71) is a compilation of documents and writings related to the Naxalite movement, spanning the period between 1965 and 1992. The collection includes materials not widely available through mainstream publishers and often considered controversial by the state. It is divided into two sections and contains eighteen documents authored by individuals associated with the movement.
Post a Comment
»