ENGLISH SHORTHAND DICTATION-226

 

Respected Chairman, Sir, it is quite encouraging to finally debate a Bill in this House. It has been a long time since we have had the opportunity to debate a Bill. I would like to first thank my Party President for giving me the opportunity to be the first speaker to speak on a Bill in this Session. While we have over a billion people in India and we always consider India to be an overpopulated country, there are many people who are unable to have children and who find the benefit from the ARTs. So, it is essential that this technology is available to all and it may be ensured that the best medical practices are followed while¹²⁰ this technology is made available to all.

I am a great admirer of our epics. I grew up reading our¹⁴⁰ (1) great epics. When I was growing up, my maternal grandmother told me many fables and stories. This is a¹⁶⁰ Government which professes to draw inspiration from our epics. Our epics have so many instances of unconventional births. This Government always draws inspiration from epics. Unconventional births are mentioned in our epics throughout. This Government always says it draws inspiration from these epics. But this law which they have drafted is not inspired by the liberal Hindu epics. In fact, this law has been drafted by somebody who has got a regressive, colonial, and Victorian mindset.

This law has not come²⁴⁰ from the Hindu liberal traditions. This law has come from the completely regressive, Victorian, and colonial mindset. I will tell you why. This law only allows married people to have access to this technology. It does not allow the third-gender²⁸⁰ people to have access to this technology. It does not (2) allow single men to have access to this technology. So, this law is actually a Victorian law; it is not a Hindu law. So, do not ever say³²⁰ that you are a Government which is actually propagating Hindu values. The Hindu values are liberal values. You are, in fact, propagating a Victorian colonial value.

This law does not take into account the new realities of India. Of course, these new³⁶⁰ realities are not new realities. These were there in our ancient scriptures. Those unions which were always there, were suppressed by the colonial mentality. These unions must also be given access to this technology. The third-gender population, live-in couples, and single men should also have access to this technology. This law is discriminatory. This law violates Article 14 of the Constitution.⁴²⁰ The liberty of procreation and choice of family life are an intrinsic aspect of the fundamental right to privacy. Every individual who is mentally and physically fit to be (3) a parent and also financially fit, must be able to avail these technologies and you cannot discriminate people by the lifestyle choices they make and deny them access to⁴⁸⁰ this technology.

This law again is patriarchal. That is again a hallmark of this Government and the hallmark of all it says. A person who is capable of donating an egg, has to be married and has to have a child who is at least three years old; only then can she become a donor. A single woman cannot be a donor. Again, this reeks of patriarchy. According to this Government, unless a woman fulfils the role of becoming a mother in⁵⁶⁰ an established union, she cannot become a donor. This is again shameful. You again take away the right of an individual to decide to be or not to be a donor. This aspect has to be looked into.⁶⁰⁰ The Minister needs to address this issue. He should definitely give (4) an answer on why only married women and that too who have a child and whose child has to be three years old, can become a donor of the egg.⁶⁴⁰

There is something which is very troubling in this law. This law says that you can send the embryo for determining any pre-existing deficiencies. This is very problematic because you are not defining what these pre-existing genetic diseases are. This almost borders on eugenics, where you want to do selection, where you want to decide what kind of children can be⁷⁰⁰ born and what kind of children cannot be born. So, the Minister must definitely address this issue.⁷²⁰ He should address as to why these specific diseases which they want to prevent have not been defined. This leaves a gaping hole in the Bill.

The Surrogacy Bill was passed in this House without a debate. That Bill is still pending in the Rajya Sabha. So, it has not yet become (5) a law. But this Bill says that there is going to be an Oversight Board which will draw its powers from the Surrogacy Act. Why are you bringing this Bill when⁸⁰⁰ that Bill has not become a law? There are many conflicts between these two laws. Why do you need to have two Bills? Why could both not be combined? The Surrogacy Bill says that you must keep the record⁸⁴⁰ of 25 years. This Bill says that you must keep the record of 10 years. Again, the Oversight Board will draw its powers from the Surrogacy Act. The Surrogacy Bill has not become an Act yet. So, how are you going to establish the Board which will draw its powers from the Act which is not there? So, there is a lot of conflict. The Minister must address as to why there is a haste in bringing this Bill when the other Bill has not been passed? Why is there (6) a need to have two separate Bills which deal with pretty much the same subject?

There is another issue which has not been addressed. It could be problematic. It is a very⁹⁶⁰ sensitive issue. A child born through a donor, after the age of 18, might be curious to find out who the⁹⁸⁰ father is. That right is not given here. I accept that there is a privacy right of the donor. There must be some sensitivity in this. The Indian Council of Medical Research has suggested that the characteristics of the donor must be revealed to the child. The identity, of course, cannot be given because most donors are anonymous. So, that sensitivity has not been handled in this Bill. The Minister must inform us how he is going to handle this sensitive issue.

As I said, it is a very sensitive subject. There is no politics in it.¹⁰⁸⁰ It is a very sensitive subject and he must deal (7) with it. As far as the complaint mechanism goes, only the Board can complain; an individual cannot complain. So, you are really taking away the fundamental right of a person to go to court. ¹¹²⁰ Only the Board can go to court and not the individual. Again, this is very problematic. You cannot take away the fundamental right of a person to go to court. The Board is only established by the Surrogacy Act and the Surrogacy Act has still not been established. So, that is another lacuna which you must address. You want the Aadhaar card for the donor because you want to identify the donor through that Aadhaar card.¹²⁰⁰ But the donor has to be anonymous. What will happen if there is a leak of data? What are we doing to protect that because a lot of people are donors, but you do not want their identities to be there? It is because they have no legal right (8) over the child.

Sir, a lot of issues of privacy, fundamental rights,¹²⁶⁰ and discrimination are very much there and we must take them into account. The clinics are not regulated. They are becoming commercial establishments.¹²⁸⁰ The Minister knows that. IVF is a very expensive procedure. People go through many cycles before they have any success in it. There is no control over its pricing. There is no control over how these clinics are established. But you prohibit the donors from charging anything because you do not want commercial exploitation of that. There is a lot of merit in that, but there must be some balance. While you are not regulating the medical practice, you are completely regulating the surrogacy part of it. So, there must be some balance between them and there must be some clarity in it.

The other thing that has not been addressed is that this is (9) a very expensive procedure.¹⁴⁰⁰ Many people from all strata of society want to have children of their own. What is the provision for those who do not have money? Is there any programme which the Government is proposing by which people who do not¹⁴⁴⁰ have the resources can also access this technology? This technology cannot be available only to the rich. This technology must be available to everybody who wants to have children. It should be accessible to all. So, the Government must definitely address this issue as well.

As I said in the beginning, this is the Government which always says that it draws inspiration from our epics. But this Government is not at all acting in the way in which I have been taught Hindutva by my grandmother. This Government is a Victorian and colonial Government and it acts like that. Every act of this Government is colonial. (10) This Bill is also a colonial Bill and not a Bill which is true to our faith, which is liberal, which accommodates everybody, which looks at different kinds of relationships, and looks at all kinds of things encompassing all philosophies. This inclusiveness has always been lacking in this Government. This Bill is yet another¹⁶⁰⁰ example of that.