Government invites public comments on the draft Seeds Bill, 2025
The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare released the draft Seeds Bill, 2025 for public comments on 13 November 2025; the Bill is meant to replace the Seeds Act, 1966 and the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983, with suggestions due by 11 December 2025.
Summary
The draft Seeds Bill, 2025 seeks to regulate the quality of seeds and planting material sold in the market, ensure farmers get quality seeds at affordable rates, curb spurious and poor-quality seeds, liberalise seed imports to widen access to global varieties, and protect farmers' rights. On enforcement, it proposes to decriminalise minor offences to promote ease of doing business while keeping strong penalties for serious violations. The draft and the feedback format are on agriwelfare.gov.in as part of pre-legislative consultation.
Key facts
- Draft law
- Seeds Bill, 2025
- Replaces
- Seeds Act, 1966 & Seeds (Control) Order, 1983
- Prepared by
- Dept of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare
- Comments due
- 11 Dec 2025
- Enforcement
- Minor offences decriminalised; strong penalties for serious ones
Practice MCQs 2 questions
The draft Seeds Bill, 2025, released for public comments in November 2025, is intended to replace which Act?
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Correct answer: A — Seeds Act, 1966
The draft Bill is meant to replace the Seeds Act, 1966 and the Seeds (Control) Order, 1983.
Consider the following statements about the draft Seeds Bill, 2025: 1. It proposes to decriminalise minor offences to promote ease of doing business. 2. It proposes to ban all imports of seeds to protect domestic varieties. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
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Correct answer: A — 1 only
The draft decriminalises minor offences. It seeks to liberalise, not ban, seed imports to widen access to global varieties.