Lok Sabha MP Sudhakar Singh
Former Agriculture Minister of Bihar and currently Lok Sabha MP Sudhakar Singh has suggested some changes while demanding to send the proposed Seed Bill to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. These include fixing cost and accountability in the current draft. However, he supported the need for a law, saying the parliamentary panel was pushing for it.
in conversation with business LineSingh, who is also a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture, said the bill aims to address some of the key issues like terminator seed technology, uncontrolled rates of seeds, accountability of seed companies and GMO technology.
Explaining further, he said, “We should not use any terminator seed technology in the seed production system. The aim of seed companies across the world is not to increase production but to create a market for themselves by selling new seeds every year. That is why they want to use genetically modified (GM) seeds and genome editing technology.”
bt cotton mesh
He claimed that from the last 20 years of experience on BT cotton, both the government and farmers have realized that allowing GM cotton was a failed technology and India has fallen into a trap.
“Today it has been proven that those who opposed GM technology were right and those who supported it are disappointed,” he said.
But when asked whether capping seed prices was responsible for no new technology coming to India, Singh said Bt cotton was introduced on the claim that there would be no pest attack. “But the PBW (pink bollworm) pest is infesting Bt cotton, and there is no cure. There is no solution to the pests,” he said, adding that now both cotton production and productivity have declined.
He also said that the trade deal with the US allowing zero duty import of cotton will put India back to the situation like in 2000 when the country used to import. He asked, “We never had shortage of cotton. If there was a need in a particular year, we could have imported it by waiving the import duty. So, what was the need to introduce the failed technology?”
The law needs reform
Asserting that India can never compromise with seed sovereignty, he said the bill has come because the parliamentary panel was constantly raising it with the government. “The Seed Bill has been pending since 2004. It is coming now because our committee had raised questions on it. We want it to be clearly stated in the law that foreign technology will not be adopted. Only our hybrid and pure line technology will be adopted,” he said.
Secondly, Singh said there should be a maximum retail price for seeds. He said, “Earlier farmers used to exchange seeds among themselves in villages. Now companies are making huge profits, they modify the seeds in the name of pest control, but this creates more pests.”
Emphasizing that the seed law still needs reform, he said there is a need for seed insurance. “Companies selling seeds should guarantee production. If there is a loss of more than 10-20 per cent, compensation should be given,” he said.
Published on February 12, 2026
