The bill, which was likely to be taken up for consideration and passage during the current session, was introduced by industry minister Sikander Bakht amidst protest by members of the left parties and DMK.

Apart from granting EMRs in the fields of pharmaceuticals and agriculture, the bill provides for establishing a mailbox for receipt of patent applications.

As per the bill, the grant of EMRs will be subject to certain conditions such as filing of product patent applications. The applicants for EMRs in India will also have to file the product patent applications and also obtain the marketing approval for the inventions from the appropriate authority. The applicants can then make applications to the controller of patents for grant EMRs.

The EMRs will be valid for a period offive years or till the patent application is rejected or granted whichever is shorter. The bill also contains provisions relating to public non-commercial use, price fixation and compulsory licensing of EMRs. These provisions will be without prejudice to the existing laws on consumer protection.

The bill also contains provisions to ensure national security in the case of fissionable material, traffic in arms and ammunition and implements of wars, etc. In this case it provides that the government can take any action including revocation of patent and one can force the government to disclose any information relating to any patentable invention which it considers prejudicial to the interest of security of India.

The legislation will enable India to fulfil its obligations under articles 70.8 and 70.9 of the TRIPs agreement.

The members of the Left parties had earlier opposed the the bill tooth and nail describing it as an infringement on the rights of the state government. The protestors who rushed to thewell of the house and defied all directives by the chair to return to their seats forced adjournment of the house an hour before the scheduled time.

Among those opposing the bill were Biplab Das Gupta, Ashok Mitra, Mohammad Salim (all CPM), Gurudas Das Gupta (CPI) and V Virumbi (DMK). They wanted that the government should convene either a meeting of chief ministers or National Development Council (NDC) to discuss the bill.

They even contested that the House was not competent to consider the bill. The chair however rejected their arguments.

Gurudas Das Gupta even pointed out that chief ministers of five states--Bihar, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Tripura-had already written to prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee expressing their opposition to the bill.

The chair however directed industry minister to introduce the bill. As Bakht rose, members from the Left parties, DMK, rushed to the well to oppose introduction of the bill. The minister, however, introduced the bill amid uproar and soon after thehouse was adjourned for the day.

Earlier, Pranab Mukherjee of the Congress which came out in full support of the bill, urged the chair that only those members who had given their notice before 1000 hours today should be allowed to speak on the subject.