Insecticides Act on the Way Out - Comments on Draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025 by 5 Feb

Ø  New Pesticide Board to Control Industry on Lines of Pharma

Ø  New Bill to replace the Insecticides Act, 1968 and the Insecticides Rules, 1971

Ø  Bill aims to ensure supply of quality pesticides for farmers and to decriminalize petty offences, thereby promoting Ease of Living as well as Ease of Doing Business

Ø  Stakeholders can submit suggestions by 4th February, 2026

Key Development

·         The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) has released the Draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025 for public consultation.

·         It is set to replace the Insecticides Act, 1968 and the Insecticides Rules, 1971.

Objectives

·         Ensure quality pesticides supply for farmers.

·         Decriminalize petty offences to promote Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business.

·         Strengthen administrative control and management of pesticides.

Salient Features

·         Transparency & traceability for better farmer services.

·         Use of technology and digital methods to streamline processes.

·         Stricter control over spurious pesticides with higher penalties.

·         Compounding of offences with penalties defined by State authorities.

·         Mandatory accreditation of testing laboratories to guarantee pesticide quality.

Public Consultation

·         Draft Bill and format available on the Ministry’s website: agriwelfare.gov.in.

·         Comments/suggestions invited until 4 February 2026.

·         Submissions to be sent via email in MS Word or PDF format.

Impact

·         Aims to balance farmer welfare with business facilitation.

·         Strengthens regulatory framework while ensuring fair practices in pesticide supply.

<Draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025>

The draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2020, which proposes a new framework for regulating pesticides in India, replacing the older regime under the Insecticides Act, 1968.

What this document is

·         It is a draft central legislation titled “The Pesticides Management Bill, 2020”, with 8 Chapters and Schedules over 40+ pages.

·         The Bill’s stated objective is to regulate manufacture, import, packaging, labelling, storage, advertisement, sale, transport, distribution, use and disposal of pesticides to ensure safe and effective pesticides and minimise risk to humans, animals, other organisms and the environment, while promoting biological and traditional-knowledge-based pesticides.

Key institutional setup

·         The Bill creates a Central Pesticides Board (Section 4) to advise the Central and State Governments on scientific and technical matters, develop standards (GMP, disposal, advertising, worker safety, etc.), and monitor residues and global developments.

·         It also establishes a Registration Committee (Section 9) to decide on registration of pesticides, with representatives from health, agriculture, environment and chemicals agencies, and a Chairperson with prescribed expertise.

·         Supporting bodies include a Central Pesticides Laboratory and Pesticide Testing Laboratories for analysis and enforcement.

Scope and core definitions

·         The Bill defines “pesticide” broadly to include chemical or biological substances and formulations used to prevent, destroy, repel, mitigate or control pests in agriculture, industry, public health, storage or ordinary use, plus plant growth regulators, defoliants, desiccants, sprouting inhibitors and post-harvest protectants.

·         It defines “banned” pesticides (prohibited manufacture, import, sale, distribution, use), “technical grade pesticide”, “ordinary use pesticide” (household/office use), “pest control operator”, “worker”, and “risk” as probability and severity of adverse health or environmental effects given exposure.

Regulation, registration and control

·         No pesticide can be manufactured, imported, sold or used unless registered and granted a certificate of registration under Sections 18–20, with data on safety, efficacy and composition.

·         The Board and Registration Committee can recommend inclusion of substances in the Schedule, impose restrictions, cancel or ban pesticides, and specify recall procedures and disposal norms where necessary for health or environmental protection.

·         Substances with pesticidal properties not intended for use as pesticides in India can also be regulated, and banned, expired or falsified batches must be segregated and disposed of safely within prescribed periods.

Enforcement, penalties and exemptions

·         The Bill provides for appointment of Licensing Officers, Pesticide Inspectors and Pesticide Analysts, with powers to inspect premises, seize stocks, and conduct sampling and analysis.

·         Certain contraventions can be compounded by paying prescribed penalties for first and second offences; offences attracting imprisonment or fine cannot be compounded, and repeated offenders lose the benefit of compounding.

·         Users applying pesticides in their own household, kitchen-garden or own cultivated land are exempt from prosecution under the Act, and specific exemptions are allowed for educational, scientific or research use subject to conditions.

 

[ABS News Service/08.01.2026]

The Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, MoA&FW, Government of India has prepared a fresh draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025 in alignment with current requirements. It is intended to replace the present Insecticides Act, 1968 and the Insecticides Rules, 1971 made thereunder.

The draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025 is a farmer-centric legislation with several salient features. The revised Bill incorporates provisions such as transparency and traceability to ensure better services to farmers, thereby promoting ease of living. It includes reform-oriented measures, including the use of technology and digital methods for streamlining processes, along with stricter control over spurious pesticides through higher penalties. Provisions have also been made for compounding of offences, with enhanced penalties to act as a deterrent, to be defined by State-level authorities. Further, amendments have been introduced to strengthen administrative control and management of pesticides, striking a balance between ease of life and ease of doing business. This bill also provides for mandatory accreditation of testing laboratories, ensuring that only quality pesticides is available to farmers.

As part of the pre-legislative consultation process, the draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025 and the prescribed format are available on the Ministry's website: https://agriwelfare.gov.in.

The Comments and suggestions on draft bill and its provision are invited from all stakeholders and the general public. The comments/suggestions may be sent by email to pp1.pesticides[at]gov[dot]in rajbir.yadava[at]gov[dot]in/ jyoti.uttam[at]gov[dot]in in MS word or PDF format as early as possible but latest by 04.02.2026 in the following format.

Part-A: Details of person or organization (as the case may be) for making comments/ suggestion

Name & Designation of the person

 

Contact Details (Address, E-mail, Mobile)

 

Name of organization/Agency (if any associated)

 

Contact Details (Address, E-mail, Mobile)

 

Part-B Comments/Suggestions

S. No.

Section

Issue

Comments/Suggestions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments/suggestions which may be received from any person in respect of the said draft Bill before the expiry of the aforesaid period will be considered by the Central Government while finalising the draft bill.