RSS-affiliated body SJM suggests changes in pesticide management bill

New Delhi: The Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) on Thursday said it has submitted a memorandum to a parliamentary panel suggesting changes in the pesticide management bill that can help achieve the "national objective" of Atmanirbhar Bharat and safety from hazardous impacts of the pesticides.

The parliamentary standing committee on agriculture is examining the pesticide management bill, 2020. The bill, introduced in Rajya Sabha on March 23 last year to replace The Insecticides Act, 1968, was referred to the parliamentary panel on June 3.

"They have invited objections and suggestions from the stakeholders and general public and are conducting hearings. Swadeshi Jagran Manch has given its memorandum to the committee on the issue," SJM's co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said in a statement.

The bill seeks to regulate the manufacture, import, sale, storage, distribution, use, and disposal of pesticides, to ensure the availability of safe pesticides and minimise the risk to humans, animals, and the environment.

Flagging "shortcomings and gaps" in the bill in its memorandum to the parliamentary panel, the RSS affiliatesaid that the proposed law does not include "sufficient provisions" to safeguard domestic manufacturing.

"On the contrary, there still exist many provisions, which promote the interest of importers and foreign interests," it said, suggesting that the bill should provide the registration committee with "right to refuse" registration for import of ready-made pesticides if they are already registered and manufactured in India.

The registration committee should also have the right to refuse the registration for import of ready-made pesticides if the committee is satisfied that alternatives are available in the country, the SJM suggested.