With less than a year left for its term to end, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre has revived its attempt to reconstitute the Rubber Board.
Months after it dropped a move to implement a new Rubber Act through an executive order, the government has now come up with a new Bill titled The Rubber (Promotion and Development) Bill, 2023, a draft of which is now being circulated among stakeholders.
According to sources, the Additional Secretary in charge of Plantations at the Union Ministry for Commerce is scheduled to hold a meeting in this regard at the Rubber Board headquarters on Friday. The meeting, to be attended by all stakeholders of the sector from farmers to tyre manufacturers, is aimed to mobilise their opinion on the draft Bill.
An earlier Bill introduced by the Union Government—Rubber (Promotion and Development) Bill, 2022, which sought to repeal the Rubber Act of 1947—had ignited widespread protests among rubber farmers in Kerala.
As per the latest draft, the Bill intends “to promote and develop the Indian rubber industry, to constitute a modern Rubber Board and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.” It proposes to replace the post of the Executive Director with a Chief Executive Officer, who will also act as member-secretary of the board.
The representation of Kerala, the single largest rubber-producing State in the country, on the 30-member board will come down from eight to six.
The draft Bill has thus far evoked a mixed response among the stakeholders. Official sources have pointed out that the Bill did not take into account the complexities of rubber plantations and did not give adequate emphasis to research and development. Some experts have pointed out the need for it to address the core issues of rubber plantations in the traditional rubber belt, namely ageing of plantations and absentee landlordism.
“The concentrated latex has not been included in the definition of the rubber. Moreover, there should be a provision in the Bill to prevent the import of field latex and cup lump rubber,” pointed out Babu Joseph, general secretary of the National Federation of Rubber Producers Societies (NFRPS), which is slated to suggest a set of changes to the draft.
The new Bill also assumes a political significance ahead of the upcoming Parliament elections, especially in Central Travancore where the chances of political parties are intrinsically linked to the fortunes of rubber growers.
