72 SOCIAL SCIENTIST of bulk drugs (imported till now by the foreign companies in India) within the specified time; takeover of multinational firms; reduction in equity of foreign undertakings to 40 per cent forthwith and progressively to 26' per cent; government purchase of these shares; shift from highly profitable formulation production with imported bulk drugs to basic drugs within a period of three years; licences to the foreign sector only when the Indian sector is not coming forward to manufacture the product; allocation of 50 per cent of authorized production and 50 per cent of production in excess of capacity to non-associated formulations. Multinationals to Stay The most important recommendation, that of taking over multinational corporations, has not apparently found favour with the government. Minister K D Malaviya on 27 May 1975 said that there will be no doctrinaire approach to the question of takeover of the foreign drug firms and that they would be allowed to continue in business. As recently as 22 January 1976, there were no signs of change in the government's position. Minister PC Sethi told the Lok Sabha, "The question is a complex one." Powerful international monopolies have been lobbying for new licences, making it clear that they have no intention of sharing production with Indian companies. Thus we find that Hathi Committee made some 200 recommendations to reduce the ills of the drugs and pharmaceutical industry in India» While it failed to make drastic recommendations with regard to prices and distribution of drugs, some its vital suggestions of abolition of brand names and government takeover of multinational drug units in India h^ve not been implemented. MEENA GUPTA 1 Report of the Committee on Drugs and Pharmaceutical Industry, ch III, para 6. a Ibid., ch III, paras 70-89 8 Ibid., ch VIII, para 22. ^ Ibid., ch VIII, para 30. • Ibid., ch VIII, paras 35-38. e Ibid., ch VIII, para 40. 7 Meena Gupta, "Foreign Monopolies Dominate Indian Drug Industry", Social Scientist 36, July 1975, pp 53-50.