The agriculture ministry has put on hold the controversial Seeds Bill, 2004, following strong objections from the MPs, mainly on the pricing and penalty clauses.
Sources said while the penalty clause would be further referred to the law ministry for its opinion, the ministry would consider the suggestion of creating a national authority to decide pricing of the seeds.
“Two main issues need to be discussed further — pricing of seeds and the penalty in case the manufacturer faulters,” said agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.
The agriculture ministry, which wanted to introduce the bill in the ongoing Monsoon Session, had called around 40 MPs on Wednesday belonging to the Congress, BJP, TDP and the Left parties to seek their opinion on the legislation.
The Andhra Pradesh government has suggested various amendments to the bill, including regulation of prices, royalty on GM crop seeds, delegating powers to the states to decide compensation to the farmers, seeking tax returns by the seed companies, import of seeds and penalty to include both fine and imprisonment.
“There is an attempt to classify offences as minor and major ones. What we want is that farmers should not suffer in any situation,” said CPI MP D. Raja.
Farm scientist M.S. Swaminathan said the meeting was able to arrive at broad agreements but some issues need to be sorted out. Besides AP, the other state governments who have an interest in the bill are Maharashtra and Gujarat.