Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has convened an all-party meeting at his chambers at 1 pm today to clear the contentious Seeds Bill, pending for some time now. The bill has been criticized by many as anti-farmer and detrimental to conserving our bio-diversity. There is, however, a lot of pressure from the multinational seeds companies to see the bill through so that they get a foothold here.

Here are seven shortcomings in the bill that Pawar must consider before going ahead and clearing it:

1.      No seed price control mechanism

2.      No adequate liability – there should be a seed liability bill, like a nuclear liability bill.  After all, it is a question of farmers' livelihoods, not just a single crop

3.      No adequate protection against bio-piracy of farmers’ varieties by seed companies

4.      Provision for re-registration may lead to monopolies by seed companies

5.      No adequate curbs on seed imports - why should self-certification by seed companies be accepted?

6.      Provision for registration of transgenic seeds - backdoor entry for GM seeds

7.      No provision for promotion of indigenous seeds