The text of the Rajya Sabha debates discussing the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2010 are now available on the website of the Rajya Sabha. These debates, which went on for almost three hours, can be accessed over here, here and here.
Apart from the text of the debate available on the website of the Rajya Sabha, you can also see the recorded broadcast of Javed Akhtar’s and Kapil Sibal’s speech on Youtube over here and here. I would definitely recommend a viewing of Akhtar’s passionate, charismatic speech which captivated MPs across party lines. Not bad for his maiden speech in Parliament, right? Youtube also has the ‘post-debate’ analysis on Rajya Sabha TV by Neel Mason, a leading IP lawyer and Mr. Jagdish Sagar a former bureaucrat and author of the 1994 amendments, now a practising lawyer. That video can be accessed over here.
In light of the recent debate on the efficacy of ‘nominated members’ in the Rajya Sabha, I think Akhtar’s effective lobbying for the Bill is a prime example of the wisdom and intent of having nominated eminent artists, sportsmen, jurists and scientists as members of the Rajya Sabha.
