Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh on July 25 said the Centre withdrew the DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2019 from Parliament on Monday to avoid incorporating “elaborate safeguards” recommended by a parliamentary committee.
The Bill aimed to regulate the use of DNA profiling particularly for criminal offences. It also sought to establish a DNA data bank at the national level, with regional centres, to “store and maintain” DNA profiles, and a DNA regulatory board that would advise the Centre and the State governments on issues surrounding the use of DNA in laboratories.
Civil society organisations and MPs had raised privacy concerns, following which the Bill was sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Science and Technology for analysis. Mr. Ramesh is the Chairman of the committee
