India’s pesticide control policy is long overdue for revision to bring stringent regulations and reflecting the developments and changes in the pests and pesticide industry over the past six decades or so. Pesticides use is a double edged sword, because while rational use reduces crop losses, extensive and indiscriminate use causes harmful impacts directly on farmers’ health. The indirect impacts include pesticide residues persisting in food produce and pollution of soil, water and the entire ecosystem. Many toxic chemicals in the pesticides find their way into food chain through residues with potential to cause adverse health impacts.In addition, increased presence of spurious pesticides, accounting roughly for about 25%, is a major cause for concern as their precise impact on crops, humans, animals and ecosystem remains unknown. In this regard, the introduction of draft Pesticides Management Bill, 2025 by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoA&FW) inviting suggestions from public is much needed first step in the right direction towards building stringent regulatory system.Despite the recurring attempts to revise for the past two decades, India’s pesticide industry regulation is still governed by the Insecticides Act, 1968 and the Insecticides Rules, 1971. The nearly six decades old regulations have become redundant without reflecting the existing ground realities and hence, in dire need for revision to ensure effective control and management of pesticides from production to use. Due to lack of stringent regulation, there is a significant increase in production and sale of spurious pesticides. Under such scenario, there is an urgent need for stringent regulations for manufacturing, sale and use of pesticides to ensure safe and rational use.Although the average use of pesticides at aggregate all India level is lower than the global average, it is substantially higher in some regions and in case of specific crops. The average per hectare application of pesticides is significantly higher in commercial crops, cotton, vegetables etc. for which precise estimates are not available and could be significantly higher than national average. Similarly, use of pesticides is significantly high in some states and regions.Among states, Uttar Pradesh (UP) accounted for about 20% of total pesticide consumption followed by Maharashtra and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with over 12%, Telangana with about 9%, Punjab with about 7.6% and Haryana and West Bengal with about 6% each in 2024-25, as per the estimates of Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage, MoA&FW.Interestingly, fertiliser consumption witnessed a divergent trend across major states during the past five years. While UP witnessed a significant increase from about 11.5 thousand tonnes (tt) in 2020-21 to 13.5 tonnes in 2024-25, Maharashtra recoded sharp and steady decline in consumption from 13.2 tt to 8.3 tt in the corresponding period plausibly due to increasing organic farming.Further, J&K also witnessed a sharp reduction in pesticide consumption to 8.4 tt in 2024-25 from 11.5 tt in 2023-24 reversing the rising trend registered in the previous three years. Such diverse trends evidently indicate the presence of substantial variations across regions and crops in per hectare use of pesticides.In addition, the increasing instances of Indian agricultural export rejection, owing to the presence of pesticides, points to the possibilities of higher quantities of pesticide use or use of spurious pesticides or both due to lack of awareness among farmers. Research studies suggest that the extent of export rejections vary from 15-35% across various international destinations in case of spices. Similarly, the number of export rejections of non-basmati rice consignments to European Union (EU) increased from 3 in 2020 to 37 in 2024. Such increase in the cases of rejection is a cause for concern not only from export perspective but also from the domestic consumer health safety perspective.In addition, the continuous and excessive use of pesticides is also contaminating soil, water and affecting the entire ecosystem. Research suggests that pesticides contamination of soil adversely affects the soil microbes, thereby affecting soil fertility.Further, pesticides through run-off, percolation and leaching, contaminate surface and ground water, affecting the human and animal lives. Studies indicate the presence of pesticide residues in about 32% of ground and surface water resources. In addition, indiscriminate use of pesticides can potentially damage beneficial insects like bees and microbial population, thereby adversely impacting biodiversity and overall ecosystem.Under such scenario, it is essential to eliminate the manufacturing, distribution, sale and use of counterfeit pesticides with stringent punishments including criminal liability. It is also crucial to progressively bring accountability across pesticide supply chain to ensure their authenticity and quality from the manufacturing to use. In order to keep pace with the evolving scenario of pests and pesticides, there is a need to make provision for constant evaluation and revision of regulatory system at regular intervals with the purview of the proposed Central Pesticides Board.Creating awareness among farmers about harmful and spurious pesticides, correct method and rational use, benefits and need for using biological pesticides is vital for ensuring safe and efficient use of pesticides. Thus, considering the potentially toxic nature and diverse harmful impacts of pesticides, there is an urgent need to upgrade the six decade old regulations by fortifying the proposed Pesticide Management Bill 2025 with stringent regulatory measures for ensuring the safety and sustainability of lives as well as the ecosystem.Amarender Reddy is joint director at Policy Support Research, ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management (ICAR-NIBSM), Raipur. Tulsi Lingareddy is a senior economist at Sustainable Finance and Agriculture, Mumbai.