FM tables Patents Bill

Left Front up in arms against pension regulator

Two ordinances passed by the government on December 26, sanctioning the third amendment to the Patents Act and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), looked set to become laws, but only after the Opposition and the Left ensured that the government would have to work hard to achieve this.

Both the Bills were discussed in the Lok Sabha today, but the Left led a walkout over the PFRDA Act and the Patents Bill was rescheduled for discussion tomorrow.

Both ordinances were passed by the government just after the conclusion of the Winter session of Parliament and not introduced during the session itself.

This has been pointed out by both the Left and the BJP as proof of the Congress's bullying habits. However, the BJP and the Left made the Congress accede to their demands at least in part.

The Left parties, for instance, proclaimed that they were opposed in principle to the Patents third amendment bill right from NDA times.

Anticipating the BJP would at some point or the other go over to the Congress's side in spite of their ambivalent posture towards the bill, the Left mounted a massive campaign against the Patents Bill, through protests and demonstrations.

The Left's public posture when the current session of Parliament began was that they would not give in to the Patents Bill as it stood. What the Left did not anticipate was the BJP's sudden change of heart about its own bill.

A couple of weeks in to the session, after the Jharkhand and Goa episodes, a belligerent BJP today claims that it has issued whips to all its MPs to vote against the bill and even ask for a division if necessary.

While this is not the BJP's final stand on the Bill, and an NDA meeting tomorrow morning will decide if the BJP and allies will actually vote against the bill, a subtle message that the BJP is no longer adamant about the issue might have been conveyed by opposition leader LK Advani in the Lok Sabha today.

After being told by Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the Congress had supported the BJP when the first two amendments to the bill were being passed irrespective of party lines, Advani said the BJP was not against the Bill, it merely needed more time to discuss the amendments tabled by the government.

The amendments to the Bill were introduced today at the instance of the Left by the Government after it became clear that BJP was against the bill. While the government might regret acting too soon, it can be looked at as a tactical move on the BJP's part, undercutting both the Left and the Congress by making them go back on their public postures.

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill has again raised the Left's anti-globalisation hackles. The bill seeks to create a 'manager' for the pension funds kept with the Government. This private entity will invest the money not only in Government of India bonds and in mutual funds but also in the stock market.

On the PFRDA it doesn't seem likely that the Left will come to any public "compromise" with the Government, as the BJP seems in the mood to support the Congress.

The Bill however, has been the reason for a series of meetings between the Congress and the Left with no apparent result.