In an important legislation, Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the National Anti-Doping Bill, 2021, which will provide a statutory framework for the functioning of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) and the National Dope Testing Laboratory in the country.
The passage of the Bill in the post-lunch session happened despite the partial derailment of the proceedings of the house earlier.
“We tied up with the National Forensic Science Laboratory. NADA has also developed a toolkit. India can become a hub of anti-doping testing. The data of any athlete will not go into the public domain,” said Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur while replying to the debate on the National Anti-Doping Bill,2021. The house was adjourned for the day after passing the bill. The Minister said, “National Anti-Doping Bill will boost India's reputation. The country will have special laws and anti-doping testing facilities. We need to widen the scope of doping investigations and increase the testing capacity of doping.”
“Almost Rs 70-100 crores is spent in building one testing laboratory but our government will not be left behind in this. Through this, we will not be dependent on other countries and will support our initiative of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat',” said Thakur.
Elaborating on the long-term benefits of the bill the sports minister said, “National Anti-Doping Bill will boost India's reputation. The country will have special laws and anti-doping testing facilities. We need to widen the scope of doping investigations and increase the testing capacity of doping”. “Countries like US, China, Australia, Korea & Japan had already adopted Anti Doping Law. Now India will be among these countries to have its own anti-doping law and testing laboratories as well”, Thakur informed members. “Currently, we're testing 6,000 samples in a year, when we host big sporting events in our country, we'll have to test 10,000 samples in a month. So we need to increase the number of testing laboratories as well,” he said while detailing the significance of the bill.
Earlier in the day, the Bill to provide statutory framework for NADA's functioning came up for consideration in the House. The Bill, moved by Thakur, sought to strengthen measures to check drug abuse by sportspersons.
The minister said the bill will give effect to a UN convention on anti-doping. While moving the Bill for consideration and passage, Thakur recalled the achievements of Indian sportspersons in the recent past and expressed hope that Indians will win more medals in international tournaments in future.
“The bill is intended to provide a "statutory framework for the operation of the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) and other dope testing laboratories, and for the creation of a National Board for Anti-Doping in Sports to strengthen anti-doping activities in sport," he said.
It seeks to give NADA powers of "investigation, levying sanctions for anti-doping rule violations, the disciplinary procedures to be adopted and the powers of inspection, sample collection and sharing and free flow of information." It also provides for the establishment of the NDTL and other dope testing laboratories.
Participating in the discussion, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said the bill will prevent unnecessary litigation between sportspersons and NADA, which currently does not have legislative backing.
He also underlined the need for educating sportspersons about the perils of doping and using banned performance-enhancing drugs.Rahul Ramesh Shewale of the Shiv Sena said efforts should be made to give sportspersons dope-free supplements. The bill was introduced in Lok Sabha in December last year and had undergone the scrutiny of a parliamentary committee.