Our Political Bureau / New Delhi February 12, 2005
Left-leaning trade unions are all set to march to Parliament on February 26 to protest against the provisions of the Patents Ordinance. The decision was taken by the Joint Convention Against Third Amendment Ordinance to the Indian Patents Act.
At a meeting attended by Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) chief M K Pandhe, Delhi Science Forum's Amit Sengupta and former GATT negotiator S P Shukla, the convention said the Patents Ordinance was not in favour of the ordinary man and that it was seriously going to damage industry and agriculture.
Apart from a sharp rise in the prices of drugs, the convention apprehends that the Ordinance and the Indian Seeds Bill, 2004 will prevent Indian farmers from indigenous seed saving, seed exchange and seed production.
In a statement, the convention said the Patents Ordinance was just another way of delivering Indian farmers into the hands of the the multinational corporations (MNCs).
They also denied the government's claim that 97 per cent of the drugs were "off patent."
This, they say is borne out by the fact that over 3 lakh patent applications are now being annually filed in the US, China and elsewhere.
Left protest
Our Political Bureau / New Delhi Feb 12, 2005, 00:18 IST
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