We, the representatives of electricity employees and engineers from the length and breadth of the country who rallied to the parliament on the 10th of December under the banner of NCCOEEE unequivocally points out from our knowledge and experience of the last one and a half decade that, the present neo-liberal policies in power sector and it’s legal frame work - the Electricity act 2003 - are badly affecting the availability, accessibility and affordability of electricity to the majority of Indian people except a few who can resort to luxuries. It also deteriorates the efficiency of the system and service. It takes away the rights of the state governments and put the rural electrification in doll-drums. Being a basic need of people in the modern age and a basic infrastructure facility, this state of affair is affecting the overall development of the country in a big way. The act also provides room for the total privatization of power sector and subsequent shift to the market driven pricing of power, which is again suicidal to the vast majority of Indian people. So we demand to review the deleterious Electricity act 2003 at the earliest and scrap it if necessary to obviate further damages to the countries development on the lines we had already submitted in the memorandum to the Prime Minister of India on 7.9.04. We also demand to stall all the unbundling and privatization of electricity Boards, as that is now taking place in UP, till the review is satisfactorily done, and unbundled state electricity Boards should be restored, failing which we will be forced to resort to further course of agitation in this vital sector.

National Working Group on Power Sector Electricity Employees Federation of India

RESOLUTION AGAINST 3RD AMENDMENT IN INDIAN PATENT LAW (1970)

GoI had made its third amendments through an ordinance to the Indian Patent law (1970) in tune with patent co-operation treaty (1995) as envisaged in the TRIPS agreement of the WTO which was signed during 1995 in which India is a party. The amendment has a devastating effect in the maintenance of public health of Indian citizens, and spiralling effect in prices of, life saving drugs & generic medicines for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis etc., in prices of fertilisers, software products, high yielding seeds etc. as the most important objective of the amendment is to change the ‘process patent regime’ to ‘product patent regime’. The 3rd amendment now being made is holistically changing the salient characteristics of Indian patent law which was considered to be a model that was adapted by developing countries in which safety provisions were made to prevent the usage of patent for monopolistic profiteering, neglecting the overall and scientific progress of the country and mankind. The present amendment is just adoption of US patent laws as articulated in TRIPS agreement which was prepared by Trans National Corporations (TNC) of USA, Europe and Japan in the drug manufacturing field, that is in 180 degree phase opposition to Indian patent law. Government of India has not even cared to make use of the flexibilities provided in the Doha declaration of the Ministerial conference of WTO, yielding to the pressure of TNC’s in drug manufacturing, which will be detrimental to people of India as well as to the people of developing and least developed countries.

So, the working committee of EEFI which met at Kolkatta on 12-13th of January ’05 express its strong protest on the 3rd amendment made to the patent law and join with the protest and concern expressed by CITU and other progressive trade unions and left political parties.

We were expecting another meeting as decided on 21st December’04 during the meeting you had with the representatives of National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers. But to our surprise instead of getting a date for next meeting the new power policy was announced which appears the concerns of the world bank country director, India sought through his letter dated 16.12.2004 to the Secretary Power, Government of India were addressed.

Dear Shri Sayeed,

I am constrained to address this letter to you in the light of your repeated observation that Left’s concern on Electricity Act 2003 has been addressed in National Electricity Policy, announced by the Government.