The National Seed Association of India (NSAI) held its 13th Annual General Meeting at National Academy of Agricultural Science in New Delhi.

On Friday September 27th 2019, the National Seed Association of India (NSAI) held its 13th Annual General Meeting at National Academy of Agricultural Science in New Delhi. It was attuned by NSAI members from across India. The meeting was presided over by Shri Ashwini Kumar, Joint Secretary (Seeds).
Speaking at the function JS seeds Shri Ashwini said, “The Industry cannot work without government and no government can successfully reform without the nation’s industry. We both have to work together to strengthen our nation. Both of us (government and industry) are in the service of the farmers and I hope in the future too, we can resolve all challenges together too. This is the only way to bolster the Indian agriculture.”
M Prabhakar Rao, during his presidential address introduced various issues pertaining to the Indian seed sector such as FDI regulations in Seed sector, intellectual property rights and PPVFRA issues hampering the growth of medium and small industries, along with other technical issues like Bt Cotton, HT contamination, seed revalidation, issues of breeder seeds, seed subsidies, etc.
“NSAI is committed to the Indian seed sector. NSAI is working to protect the small, medium and large Indian companies. We are constantly working to protect India’s farmers from monopolization and uphold the Indian laws to protect our country. Over the years, we tirelessly toiled to prevent violations of our IPR laws, our PPPV& FR Act, along with other legislations that safeguard our sovereignty.”
“Being committed to our nation, we hope to steer policy and help industry follow our laws for creating a stronger nation,” Shri Rao said.
Three presentations on the seed industry were also made by Executive Director Shri RK Trivedi. They covered bar coding and tracibility, development of a national seed testing body and other industrial issues. “The Indian Seed Industry is undergoing a transformation right now. We at NSAI are putting all our energies to help this transformation create new opportunities for Indian companies and provide new impetus for growth in the sector. NSAI has always been a trusted partner of the government of India and we hope to do the same for the future too,” Shri Trivedi said.
The AGM was followed by the election of for the new governing council. Overall 9 members contested along with three state associations for the positions on the governing council. The election was held under Election committee and three overseers. After the voting was done, election results were declared by the chairman of the election committee in favor of 6 candidates.
New members in the new governing council were Shri Kamal O Zunzunwala (Vice President), Shri KS Narayanswamy (General Secretary), Ashwani Garg (Treasurer), Shri Siddhartha Sen, Shri K Praveen Kumar, Shri Ch Rambabu, Shri Sudhir Kansal, Shri Rakesh Jain (from association category), Shri Dinesh bhai Patel and Shri Vaibhav Kasikar.
Shri KS Narayanswamy, who was elected General Secretary for the term of 2019-21 said, “I am much honored to receive this responsibility to serve the Indian seed Industry. As the GS, I will ensure that all issues of our members are resolved at the earliest. Indian seed sector is progressing at the rapid pace, and I will ensure with the guidance from our president Shri Prabhakar Rao and others members that we grow holistically.”

For any other information, please contact Indra Shekhar Singh, Program Director Policy and Outreach on [email protected]

Also to note that on the basis of the election held on 31st August, 2019 in the AGM of NSA the New Executive Committee met on 25th September, 2019 and elected the following Office Bearers of Northern Seed Association, Delhi.

1. Shri K.V.Somani
M/s. Somani Kanak Seedz Pvt. Ltd. Delhi.
President.

2. Shri Raman Pal Uppal,
M/s. Crystal Crop Sciences Ltd. Delhi
General Secretary.

3. Shri Balbir Singh,
M/s. Hoshiarpurian Di Hatti, Amritsar, Punjab.
Joint Secretary (Imports & Exports).

4. Shri Atul Taneja,
M/s. Bharat Seed Corporation, Delhi.
Treasurer.