how many miles must a Bill traverse before you can call it an Act? Apparently, there is no end to this. The recent case of the secretary in the department of industrial development (ministry of industry) announcing that the government has drafted a new Patents Amendment Act, which will be placed in Parliament in September, and the prompt denial by the official spokesperson of the government the very next day is a classic case. And it is also a very sad example of how issues crucial to the country are pushed in the backburner, simply because the people in power and those outside it can never consent to together protect the country's vital interests. Apparently, the real reason that the government retracted the public statement of the topmost bureaucrat of the concerned department is that it had vehemently opposed the Bill brought about by the previous regime. Also, as reports indicated, the secretary had embarrassed the government he serves because so far, the Gowda regime has not taken the other political parties into confidence about the contents of the new Bill.

It is likely that in this whole game of politics, the issue will once again be sidelined, because our politicos can give anything just to nit-pick on an issue of procedure, rather than get on with the real business. And yet, the pressure from the West to make our stand clear is becoming immense.

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