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G.K. Nair

Kochi , Dec. 8

THE introduction of the proposed draft Engineers Bill in Parliament still remains uncertain as the relevant parties, the Engineering Council of India (ECI) and the Institutions of Engineers (India) IE(I), are yet to finalise the draft Bill.

The draft Bill was approved in principle by the ECI Board of Governors on April 30, 2003, according to a senior official of the IE(I). It was also decided to circulate it to all the member associations of ECI and give them three months time for final comments, if any.

He said that the President, IE (I), in his letter dated July 11, informed that "the Council of IE(I) did not find the draft prepared by ECI meeting the requirements of the professional engineers as originally envisaged and desired that IE(I)'s draft of the Professional Engineers Bill submitted earlier to the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development should remain the basis of the Engineers Bill".

On this, the ECI had requested the President, IE(I), to indicate his comments on specific clauses of the draft Bill so that it could be improved upon in order to meet the desired objectives. Thereafter, discussions have been held with the Institution of Engineers (India) who had indicated that another draft is being prepared and " is expected to be discussed with ECI", he said.

In fact, such a Bill has become inevitable now as there are concerted moves in the US and European countries to restrict entry of professionals from India, China etc, consequent to loss of jobs for their own countrymen. Such restrictions are likely to come up as discriminatory on-tariff barriers on the basis of competence of personnel, international recognition of qualifications, continuing education etc, experts here pointed out.

To counter such moves, the introduction of the Engineers' Bill and getting it approved by Parliament assumes importance for consolidating of `our potential', by seeking national as well as international recognition through partnerships and certifying competence at par with professionals from any other country, they said.

The provisions of GATS of the WTO "would be used against our people as we have already witnessed the same game on the agricultural front at the recent Cancun summit of the WTO". Already there is a certain upheaval in the West on more and more Indians coming and taking up their jobs in US, UK, Germany etc.

Recently, the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had exhorted developed countries not to put embargos on outsourcing and natural movement of professional people, Mr M.P.S. Nair, former Chairman, IE(I) told Business Line. And yet the draft is being shunted between the ECI and IE(I) for the past several months.

The main objective of the Bill is to ensure that "the activities of engineering and technology are performed only by competent persons", according to the IE(I) source.

Recognition of competence of engineers and technologists on the basis of a degree obtained at one point of time is not enough. Hence, a mechanism has to be developed and installed for imparting relevant continuing development and integrating the same with the process of certification. For this purpose, it is necessary to properly regulate the practice of engineering by an Act of Parliament in order to protect the public health, safety and welfare, he said.

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