Annual Report 2009-2010 - Department of Agriculture & Co-operation

Annual Report 2009-2010
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(DAC) during the Kharif and Rabi seasons
involving the state departments of agriculture
and the CIPMCs.
7.10 Implementation of the Insecticides Act:
The Insecticides Act, 1968, regulates the import,
manufacture, sale, transportation, distribution,
and use of insecticides with a view to preventing
risks to humans or animals, and for matters
connected therewith. A Registration Committee,
constituted under Section 5 of the Act, is
empowered with the registration of insecticides
under Section 9 of the Act after verifying that it
is efficacious and safe for use by farmers. During
2009-10 (up-to December 2009), 2,497
registrations were granted. In order to bring
about greater transparency and efficiency in the
process of registration of pesticides, online
registration of insecticides on the website of the
Central Insecticides Board and Registration
Committee (CIB&RC) has been launched on 23
September 2009. The system enables online
filing of applications for registration, status of
processing, reporting of deficiencies, and
automated work flow of the registration process.
7.11 A campaign to prevent the manufacture
and sale of spurious pesticides has been
launched by the DAC in cooperation with all the
state governments and the respective CIPMCs.
7.12 The quality of pesticides is monitored by
the Central and State Insecticide Inspectors who
draw samples of insecticides from the market
for analysis in the 61 State Pesticide Testing
Laboratories (SPTLs) in 21 States and one UT.
For states that do not have facilities for testing
pesticides, facilities for testing samples at the
Regional Pesticide Testing Laboratories (RPTLs)
set up by the Central Government in Chandigarh
and Kanpur, are available. In the case of a dispute,
the samples are referred to the Central
Insecticides Laboratory (CIL), Faridabad. In order
to move towards greater quality assurance in
pesticide analysis services, the CIL has obtained
accreditation from the National Accreditation
Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories
(NABL) for biological and chemical testing as per
ISO/IEC 17025:2005. The RPTLs are also actively
engaged in seeking accreditation.
7.13 The Pesticides Management Bill, 2008,
which is intended to replace the Insecticides Act,
1968, to provide for a more effective regulatory
framework for the introduction and use of
pesticides in the country was introduced in
Parliament (Rajya Sabha) on 21 October 2008.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on
Agriculture laid its report on the Bill in Parliament
on 18 February 2009. The recommendations of
the Standing Committee have been examined,
and taking into account these recommendations,
the official amendments to the Pesticides
Management Bill will be brought forth by the
Government.
7.14 Monitoring of Pesticide Residue at the
National Level: The scheme, Monitoring of
Pesticide Residue at the National Level was
launched in 2005 as a central sector scheme to
collect, collate, and analyse data and information
on a centralised basis, on the prevalence of
pesticide residue at the farm gate and in market
yards. Samples of agricultural and food
commodities, including animal produce, are
drawn and analysed in 21 laboratories under
different departments, state governments and
agricultural universities. During 2009-10 (up-to
October 2009), 6,780 samples, including
vegetables, fruits, rice, wheat, milk, butter, meat,
fish and marine products, spices, tea, honey, and
water were analysed.
7.15 Locust Control and Research: The Locust
Warning Organization (LWO) under DPPQ&S,
which monitors locust developments and
activities over an area of 2 lakh sq. km of the
Scheduled Desert Area (SDA) in parts of