Seed law may get gene editing clause as industry presses for clearer rules
India’s pending Seed Bill has become the centre of a larger fight over whether gene editing should receive explicit legal recognition. Industry bodies, ICAR-linked scientists and farm groups are pushing competing positions as the government weighs how to frame the law.<br /><br />The outcome could shape the pace of crop innovation, the future of GM-related regulation and India’s ability to respond to climate stress, falling cotton output and import dependence.
India’s debate over seed regulation is moving beyond paperwork and into the future of crop science. At stake is whether gene editing, a technology that has already begun shaping plant breeding globally, will receive explicit legal recognition in the country’s long-awaited Seed Bill.The Hindu BusinessLine, the final text of the Bill has already been completed, but political clearance for its introduction is still pending.Why gene editing has become the focal pointgenetically modified crops, where commercial cultivation has remained limited for food crops since cotton was approved in 2002.Indian Council of Agricultural Research, or ICAR, has developed two rice varieties using gene editing, but those varieties are yet to be commercially released, underscoring the gap between research success and market adoption.Government readies the Bill, but consensus remains elusiveThe Hindu BusinessLine, and its introduction in Parliament now awaits a political decision. Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has already indicated that both the Seed Bill and the Pesticide Management Bill are ready for legislative consideration, but the timing of their tabling remains uncertain.Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, which is affiliated to the RSS, has objected to the term “transgenic” in the draft and wants it removed entirely. In its submission to the government, the organisation argued that no transgenic or genetically modified seed should be considered under the document. That objection makes the politics of the Bill more delicate, especially as officials try to balance innovation with public suspicion of GM technology.Industry wants a science-led frameworkASSOCHAM, working with Grant Thornton Bharat, released a report titled Seeds of Progress: Advancing Global Trade, Innovation and Sustainable Agriculture, which called for wider use of advanced breeding tools. The report urged the scaling up of molecular breeding, genomic selection, gene editing, speed breeding, digital phenotyping and artificial intelligence-enabled breeding analytics to compress the typical 10-year to 15-year varietal development cycle.Cotton imports sharpen the urgencyR S Paroda, founder chairman of the Trust for Advancement of Agricultural Sciences, or TAAS, and a former director-general of ICAR, said in a statement on July 31 that the country’s cotton sector has steadily lost its global lead in recent years. He linked that decline to the need for next-generation GM technologies and a more science-based regulatory regime.ICAR signals support for evidence-based reformFederation of Seed Industry of India, or FSII, on reforms in the regulation and approval of genetically modified and genome-edited crop plants. A press release issued later by the Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Ministry was withdrawn, reflecting the sensitivity surrounding the topic.M L Jat reiterated the institute’s commitment to science-driven and evidence-based agricultural innovation. He also stressed the need for a balanced regulatory system that allows safe access to modern biotechnology so that India can pursue food security, nutrition security, climate resilience and sustainable agricultural development.What the policy choice could mean for Indian agriculture