Govt withdrew DNA Bill to avoid elaborate safeguards, Congress

Congress on Tuesday, July 25 took a swipe at the BJP government for withdrawing the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019 saying that it did not want the elaborate safeguards recommended by the Standing Committee.

"Yesterday the Modi government quietly withdrew the The DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019. The Bill had been examined in detail by the S&T Standing Committee which had suggested a number of important amendments to ensure that the provisions in the Bill were not misused or abused. A few members had submitted notes of dissent as well. The Committee's report was submitted on Feb 3, 2021," party general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted. 

Now, the Modi government says most of the provisions of the Bill have already been made part of the Criminal Procedure(Identification) Act, 2022 and hence the DNA Bill is not required, he added.

"Actually, the real reason is that the Modi government did not want the elaborate safeguards recommended by the Standing Committee and decided to just ignore it after having pressed for early submission of its report. The fears of the critics of the government’s DNA Bill now stand fully justified," the veteran leader stated.

His remarks came after Science minister Jitendra Singh withdrew the DNA
Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019, on Monday.

Introduced in July 2019 in Lok Sabha, the bill was was referred to a Parliamentary panel on science and technology, environment, Forests and climate change for examination.