Economist’s Column THE PATENT AMENDMENT BILL: THE LAST NAIL INTO THE COFFIN OF ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY

Economist Column Patent Bill, last nail into coffin ofeconomic sovereignity

The Patent bill with amendment has been passed in Parliament. The sole opposition was Leftists and a few other parties - who were tiny in number. The present discussion will be incomplete if we fail to take a note on the endless hypocrisy of the BJP government in passing such a bill. The prime question that might arise is that if there is any necessity at all to patent the creation of individual or organization for prevention against the piracy of knowledge, why should an organization like World Trade Organisation (WTO) frame its modality instead of any scientific or any academic forum? The fact is that all the major scientific and artistic creation throughout the human history was made during the period when Patent Law did not exist. The answer is that the WTO was formed in the eighties (previous name GATT) with the prime objective to make the intellectual right a property right. Indeed it is clear that the global capital should impose a world wide rule of property and therefore it was no isolated event that WTO has formulated a blue print that would impose a uniform patent law for all its member countries by 2005 A. D. The rule of property is no difficult to understand. The ownership of property gets further concentrated to the hands of those who have already piled up property in their hands. In the international market too all the advanced capitalist countries have much larger concentration of the property and therefore following the logic of property the lion’s share of the intellectual property will be cornered by them.

India like other LDCs received pressure from WTO to amend her IPA by including the transitional rules within the deadline 19th April, 1999. India could easily resist the pressure from WTO. But she did not. The BJP government falsely apprehended that India would have been expelled from WTO. At the time of joining the WTO India did not commit about patent act amendment as an entry condition. Therefore, India cannot be expelled from WTO simply for non-fulfilment of patent act amendment. The process of expulsion from WTO is cumbersome, particularly for a big country like India it must be extremely difficult. Another apprehension was that India would face punitive measures by WTO and USA. This is also untrue. Because USA itself does not place the uniform patent act over and above its national patent act. Even if India would face any punitive measures that won’t affect its national economy so much. It has been proved after India faced a sanction following Pokhran nuclear test. Had India not amended her IPA, he would have lost little. It seems therefore the urgency for passing the patent amendment bill in Parliament did not arise due to the external threat. Rather it was some internal lobby within the ruling coalition as well in the opposition that intended to succumb the external pressure. This surrender did not stem from fear or legal compulsion. It must be a consequence of a deal that has been conducted beyond the public eyes between the government and the metropolitan capital. Whatever be the story behind the curtain, the implementation of the patent amendment bill drives the last nail into the coffin of economic sovereignty of India. It is again a matter of hypocrisy that the BJP as a party opposed the Patent Amendment Bill in Parliament during the Congress regime and didn’t let the bill passed. The Swadeshi rhetoric is rapidly withering away. The class character of the Government is now exposed.