Even as the budget session of Parliament is reconvening on April 15 after a brief recess, the introduction of the much awaited National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA) Bill looks doubtful as there are several procedures to be followed before the Bill is finally introduced in Parliament for its nod. If at all the Bill is introduced at the eleventh hour of the session, the chances of discussion on the bill are dim, practically putting the bill into the monsoon session, sources said.
Though the Union Law Ministry has returned the bill to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) which is drafting the Bill, departmental sources said that there are several procedures to be followed before the bill is introduced in Parliament. The DBT is yet to get comments from some more departments. Once the DBT gets comments from all the government departments, it will finalise the draft and send it to the union cabinet for its sanction for the introduction of the bill in Parliament.
As the government is attaching priority to the bill due to the ongoing controversy over the genetically modified crops in the country, different government departments may speed up procedures to introduce the bill in the ongoing session of Parliament itself. But even then it cannot be possible before the fag end of the session which comes to an end on May 7, leaving the bill to be discussed in the next session of Parliament, sources said.
Even though a proposal to establish the NBRA has been pending for a long time, the issue acquired urgency in the wake of the controversy surrounding the decision of the union environment ministry to put the introduction of genetically modified Bt brinjal on indefinite hold despite a green signal from the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). As present, the GEAC is the only regulatory body in the country to approve the use of a genetically engineered crop or organism. It will cease to exist once the NBRA comes into being.
The NBRA Bill seeks to set up the NBRA as an independent, autonomous, statutory agency to safeguard the health and safety of the people and to regulate the safe development and deployment of biotechnology products and processes in the country. Once in place, the Authority will have overriding powers on matters related to the development and deployment of biotechnology products and processes in the country.