The much-awaited National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India Bill (NBRA Bill) could not make it to the parliament for its final nod this time too, as the parliament ended its winter session without passing a Bill, after the Opposition parties forced adjournments for 22 business days in a row demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the telecom scandal.  Now, the Bill may be listed for transaction during the budget session of parliament which is scheduled to begin in February, 2011.

The Parliamentarians have spent just seven hours conducting business since the winter session began on November 9 and ended the session on December 13 in the midst of the stand-off between the government and the Opposition on the telecom scandal.

The introduction of NBRA Bill during the winter session was a foregone conclusion because, even though several important Bills have been waiting to be introduced in Parliament for its final nod, this was the only Bill related to pharma and health sectors which was listed for tentative transaction of business for the winter session of Parliament.

In fact, the NBRA Bill was to be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament itself which had sittings from July 26 to September 7. But the Bill could not make it to the Parliament that time due to the indifferent attitude of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), which has been given the responsibility of drafting the controversial Bill, as it could not complete the printing of the report and other minor formalities.

The constitution of NBRA is significant, especially in the backdrop of the ongoing controversy over the genetically modified crops in the country. 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.

The NBRA is proposed to be placed under a committee of secretaries headed by secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST) and will have representatives from all relevant ministries. As per the latest version of the draft NBRA Bill, the NBRA will not be placed under the DBT or the ministry of environment and forests, both of which had staked claim to host this autonomous authority.