Upcoming bills in Parliament (Nov 09)- Urgent attention Needed

Indian Parliament’s winter session is scheduled from November 19, 2009 till December 22, 2009.

Important updates on some bills which needs urgent attention….

1- The National Commission for Heritage Sites Bill, 2009

UNESCO Guidelines under the signed conventions must have been followed while developing this bill.

There must be provision to protect the independent interest of important sites which have meaningful symbols to national and international heritage.  Complying with the Constitutional and UNESCO’s diversity and freedom of expression rules, the bill should reflect on the caste, tribe and religion’s  existing vulnerabilities.

Eg. First school in India started by Savitribai Phule at Bhidewada is now taken over by real estate developer and converted it into a mall. In spite of protests from SC/ST organizations hardly any action has been taken by the government, though the venue of this first school was located in Bhide wada (a home given by Brahmin community person), no other community protested to protect this heritage.  Jotiba Phule wada is removed from the the heritage protection (public-private)list of the Pune Muncipal corporation history.  Many of the Buddhist sites are being converted into real estate properties or at dismal state.

There is need

- to protect the sanctity and originality of the heritage sites,

- to place adequate accountability to protect these sites.

- Ensure strict audit of foreign and domestic money investment for heritage sites.

- It is pertinent to do the survey in India to list the important sites and list down possible threats; also it is important to documents the social, cultural relevance of such sites.

- It is also very important to have representation of responsible experts from SC/ST/OBC community on the board of the Heritage commission

2. The Companies Bill, 2009

- Inclusion of Affirmative action policy in private, public and private-public companies

- Inclusive policy for SC/STs in private and public contracts to remove existing discriminatory policy.

- Periodic social audit of the companies by independent government bodies

- Some political parties had promised such policies before elections, they have moral responsibility to support a legislation without violating basic rights of SC/ST population.

3. The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2007

Need for reintroduction of this bill with strong proposal for efficient mechanism to protect the rights of SC/ST and other vulnerable communities. Many upcoming, current development projects must be developed after proper rehabilitation of the vulnerable population who are most of the time SC/ST and other backward castes. Eg. Nandi-Gram, Urban redevelopment, SEZs etc

4. The Provisions of the Municipalities (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Bill, 2001

As suggested in standing committee report the bill should provide representation of  SC (based on population percentage) along with ST in in municipal councils

Why no need to mention accused’s caste in SC, ST cases

Will not this judgement give open hand to police to do away or force FIR Atrocities applicant not to mention the caste of accused.  This will automatically help diverting the caste-atrocity cases under CrPc and reduce the importance of SC/ST(PoA) Act. In general also there are increasing number of cases of caste based atrocities which are not registered under SC/ST(PoA) Act, eg. recent case of Khairlanji. 

No need to mention accused’s caste in SC, ST cases: Apex court

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blnus/28151620.htm

NEW DELHI: It is not necessary to mention the caste of the accused in the FIR in cases relating to atrocities under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the Supreme Court has held.

A three-judge bench of Justices Arijit Pasayat, Mukundakam Sharma and H L Dattu ruled that police can commence investigation on the basis of a complaint from the victim even if he or she had failed to mention the caste of the accused person.

“Whether the accused belongs to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe can be gone into when the matter is being investigated,” the apex court observed, setting aside a Bombay High Court decision to quash the proceedings against an accused on the grounds tha t the victim Ashabai Machindra Adhagale failed to mention his caste.

The high court citing earlier judicial rulings had quashed the proceedings by invoking Section 482 CrPC under which it can quash a criminal case against any person. It quashed the criminal case after upholding the plea of the accused that the FIR did not disclose his caste, as mandated by the Act.

Aggrieved by the high court’s move Adhagale appealed in the apex court. – PTI

Clinical Trials on African Americans or Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes?

http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/report-indian-government-to-tighten/n20070626051609990003

The issue of clinical trial and human subjects is considered as one of high importance in western world and least important to the elites and multinationals.

Human subject regulations in western world has significantly controlled the clinical trials on African Americans and other minorities in USA, European countries.

Now more than 200 ongoing drug trial projects in India will show hazardous effects on the lives of our people in few years. These trials are prohibited and corporates/universities has to go through strict Institute Review Board (IRB)regulations before conducting such trials. If the target populations of company are African American, Women, Prisoners, Hispanic, Latinos or any other minorities, it is very difficult to get permission (Ref:

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/peer/tree_minorities_clinical_trials.pdf

http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.htm)

Glosary on Human Subjects

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/peer/tree_glossary.pdf

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/peer/

These human subject Institute Review Board(IRB) is also equally important for all the research whether it is related to medical field or social science, engineering. Any research which has relevance to human being must have clearance from such regulations. So one can understand the significance of such regulations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Women and other marginalized section of Indian society.

Good articles on human subjects
http://www.science.doe.gov/ober/humsubj/fall06.pdf

So now these corporates are in India and in the non-existence of any human subject population policy it will kill and affect many of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe populations which is most vulnerable.

Now we need to check and act :

1. Indian Lawmakers are drafting a bill to give the Central Drug Authority, is this bill inclusive of concerns of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Women and other marginalized section of Indian society?

2. How strong these regulations will be? Developing what we want in this regulations, propose, and advocate ?

3. Can UGC, CSIR, Ministry of Health, Ministry of HRD take up this issue to have Institute Review Board regulations for all other research happening in Indian Universities, IITs, IIMs,etc.

4. Students/faculties from JNU, IITs, TISS and other institutes can do research on this issue.