Overview
- Working president K. T. Rama Rao says the proposal centralizes seed regulation and pricing with the Union government, weakening State authority on an agriculture subject.
- The party argues the draft lacks clear curbs on spurious seeds, provides no assured and timely compensation to affected farmers, and shifts accountability from manufacturers to sellers and the supply chain.
- BRS warns of provisions that could let corporate firms influence seed prices and permit foreign companies to sell seeds without rigorous multi-location trials, raising seed sovereignty and biosafety concerns.
- The draft is criticised for offering no legal protection to farmers who save, exchange, and reuse seed, and for sidelining State governments and agricultural universities in decision-making.
- BRS says it has submitted amendments seeking seed sovereignty and domestic biosafety, mandatory multi-location trials, strict penalties and national blacklisting for fake seeds, and clear compensation norms, with no government response noted in these reports.