No bills from pharma, health sectors likely to come up for discussion during Winter Session

No bills from the pharma and health sectors, including the controversial National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) bill, may be introduced during the Winter Session.

No bills from the pharma and health sectors, including the controversial National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) bill, may be introduced during the Winter Session commencing on November 22 since over 100 bills already tabled in the Parliament are waiting for the look by the lawmakers.

The session which will go on till December 20 will take up the pending bills, including some crucial ones, on a priority basis instead of listing fresh bills for consideration, provided that the political turmoil does not waste the time of the Houses, sources said.

One of the prominent bills related to the pharma and health sector was the NBRA bill which was slated to be tabled on the last day of the monsoon session. However, it was stalled even the Minister concerned was about to present the bill, following stiff opposition from different parties including the ruling sections.

Though the provisional calendar was yet to be announced for the winter session, it is learnt that the Government had decided to push some of the pending bills. As many as 102 bills are pending for consideration by either House after the several sessions were disrupted continuously in the past. These pending bills include ones on land acquisition, Lokpal, whistle-blowers, money-laundering, companies, banking and forward contracts regulation.

The government had promised to address concerns of the MPs before tabling the NBRA bill, virtually pushing it back to the cold storage. The apprehensions by the Members about genetically modified crops and other products forced the government to withdraw the bill at the last minute.

Apart from the NBRA bill, a number of bills from the sector are also pending for presentation. Major Bills included HIV/AIDS bill, ethical guidelines for biomedical research on human subjects bill, Central Drug Authority (CDA) bill and ART bill.

The HIV/AIDS bill that aims to end discrimination to the HIV patients and ensuring access to treatment to them is mired in controversy and is presently stuck in the union law ministry. The tabling of ethical guidelines for biomedical research on human subjects bill in this session is also difficult as the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is reviewing the bill to make the punishment part of the bill more severe as a deterrent.