Basmati issue rocks Parliament

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 21. The granting of a patent on Basmati rice to an American company by the U.S. Patent Office sparked considerable heat in both the Houses of Parliament today.

The Lok Sabha saw the customary trooping into the well by the Opposition members forcing an adjournment. In the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of State for Commerce, Mr. Digvijay Singh, was pinned by members from both sides till the Chairman, Mr. Krishan Kant, relieved him of the ordeal by directing the Government to make a statement later in the week.

In the Lok Sabha, trouble began as soon as the House assembled. The Samajwadi Party members, led by Mr. Akhilesh Singh and Mr. Ramji Lal Suman, entered the well and urged the Speaker, Mr. G. M. C. Balayogi, to put off the official business and take up the adjournment notice. But the Speaker refused and urged them to raise the issue during zero hour.

The SP members were, however, unrelenting and accused the Government of bartering away the country's interests and caving into pressure from certain countries. Amid slogan-shouting against the Government, the House was adjourned till after lunch. Order was restored after the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, assured the members that their concerns would be taken into account and that the Commerce Minister might make a statement in the House tomorrow.

In the Rajya Sabha, events took a different course with Mr. Digvijay Singh being frequently corrected during question hour. He began by asserting that India would have legal rights over Basmati after the Parliamentary Select Committee vetted the rules for the Geographical Indication Act. He also maintained that the grant of Basmati patent to a company in the U.S. would not affect indigenous Basmati cultivation and exports.

This observation led Mr. Balbir Punj (BJP) to wonder about the quality of homework done by the Minister. ``The Minister has claimed that our losing the Basmati case will have no bearing on exports. If it has no bearing on exports, why should we fight the case?''

To this, Mr. Singh sought refuge in officialese. ``We are obtaining confirmation of the report... At this stage, we do not visualise any effect on the export of Basmati... We have not lost the case. No formal information has come to the Government.''

It was left to Mr. Kapil Sibal (Congress) to correct the Minister. ``It is not a question of losing the case. The U.S. has granted a patent to a variety of Basmati rice, which is being produced by a particular company. So the question of winning or losing does not arise. We ought to have opposed the grant of the patent,'' he said.

Mr. Sibal also said that while Indian Basmati could be exported to rest of the world, there could be problems when it was dispatched to the U.S. because a company there had received a patent. As a result, there might be a ban on imports in the U.S. This would necessitate the Indian Government to move the U.S. Patent Office to lift the grant of patent to that company. ``When will you do that?'' he asked.

Mr. Singh again took comfort in his stock reply. ``We will do that when the Geographical Indication Act comes from the Select Committee.'' Mr. Sibal again said this legislation had no bearing on the issue at hand. ``At least register the patent of Basmati in the U.S. You do not even have the patent for Indian Basmati,'' he stated.

Mr. Pranab Kumar Mukherjee (Congress) also felt that since the issue was too important to be tackled in this manner, the Minister should prepare a statement analysing all the implications. Mr. Singh's grilling ended after Mr. Krishan Kant asked the Government to make a measured statement on the issue.

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