Earlier, replying to a day-long discussion marked by procedural wrangles and acrimony, industry minister Sikander Bakht said the debate was of high quality which threw light on a difficult subject and removed areas of misunderstanding.

The ruling BJP heaved a sigh of relief after the Congress parliamentary affairs committee decided to extended their support to the bill. The bill, among other things, seeks to provide exclusive marketing rights (EMR) for international companies in pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals. The government, on its part, decided to incorporate the amendment suggested by Congress.

Discussion on the bill, moved by industry minister Sikandar Bakht, had to wait forover 150 minutes which was lost in numerous points of order and lengthy procedural wrangles over members' right to speak on their amendments first.

Initiating the discussion, Kapil Sibal (Cong) said contrary to Left parties' campaign, the bill provided for adequate safeguards for national interest and security. Stating that India should not default on its international commitments, he said it will be better for the country to be inside the WTO and negotiate to derive benefits.

However, Sibal said his party was opposed to either patent or EMRs for Indian system of medicines. Contending that trade-related intellectual property rights (TRIPS) allowed government to intervene in matters of public interest, Sibal said it also had provisions to stop commercial exploitation. Arun Shourie (BJP) said TRIPS prohibited patenting of animals and plants and pointed out that even in case of a patent derived by a US company on "healing properties of turmeric", the country had succeeded in getting the patentcancelled.

Referring to the basmati patent got by Rice Tec Inc of US, he said it was on a germplasm taken from Pakistan and crossed with a long grain Texan variety. He said none of the 250 essential drugs shortlisted by the World Health Organisation will come under the purview of the Patents Act Amendment and charged those opposing the amendment with being "irrational".

Even if an essential drug was to get patent in future, its price could be regulated by government as per provisions of the bill, Shourie said. Stating that the country had to abide by the ruling of the dispute settlement panel (DSP) of WTO, he said the dispute resolution treaty prescribed stiff penalty for not heeding to the diktat and it led to entire range of export goods being penalised.

Suggesting a revolving fund to help local scientists to get world class patents, he said the government should take steps to document Indian traditional medicines and bio-diversity so that no one tried to patent it as in the case of turmeric.

AshokMitra (CPM) said, "Even if we do not meet the April 19, 1999 deadline on allowing EMRs, there was no question of somebody throwing India out of WTO."

Since principal parties in parliament -- BJP and Congress -- are supporting the bill, Left and other parties are only left with the choice of registering their protest on principle, he said. Even the East India company was set up on the very same basis of exclusive marketing rights, he said, and added the purpose of the bill was to demolish the safeguards in the Patents Act of 1970. He said as per the provisions in the proposed bill, if somebody got a patent in a country which was a signatory to the convention, whether it be Fiji, Rwanda or Nepal, the country will be forced to give EMRs to the product for the next five years.