Jyoti Mirdha

Family and early life

Jyoti Mirdha Gehlaut is the daughter of Ram Prakash Mirdha and Veena Mirdha and also the granddaughter of Nathuram Mirdha, a prominent politician.

Political career

Jyoti Mirdha represented the Nagaur Parliamentary constituency in the 15th Lok Sabha and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC). She was elected to 15th Lok Sabha from Nagaur. She won the seat by a margin of 1.55-lakh votes in the year 2009. She has had a meaningful impact on several issues as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare. Jyoti Mirdha has debated on matters of Generic drugs, bringing more drugs under the price control regime, low expenditure on Research & Development by Pharma companies, Organ Donation Bill and HPV Vaccine.

On the subject of bringing more drugs under the price regulation, she told a ministerial panel set-up to finalise the drug pricing mechanism that the retail prices of the medicines be fixed on the basis of cost of production. In her presentation to the Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, Dr Mirdha said, "Ideally, all 900 or so molecules being marketed should be brought under price control, as partial control will not be effective since manufacturers freely migrate from price-controlled drugs to those outside price control. She added that prices of all patented and monopoly drugs should also be fixed.It is noted that for any price-controlled drug, all alternative medicines used in the treatment of the same disease should be regulated to prevent companies from shifting to decontrolled medicines as a way of escaping price control. According to her, a profit of maximum allowable post-manufacturing expenses of 200 per cent or 300 per cent should be given to the industry the price fixation mechanism should be less intrusive.
Acting on a report by a sub-committee of which Jyoti Mirdha was the convenor, the Parliamentary Committee also alleged lapses and corruption in the process of drug approvals. It accused several frontline companies and hauled up the lead drug regulator.strong policy positions on price control of drugs, mandatory rules and penalties to govern the company-doctor relationship and control over foreign investment in Indian companies have often been termed as targeting industry players.
In the Parliament she has also raised the issue of tractor owners across the country. In the 2012–2013 Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the Central Government had taken tractors out from the agricultural category and put them in the commercial category. This increased the annual insurance premium on farmers from 300 per cent to 800 per cent- the figure varying . For instance, a farmer in Rajasthan had to shell out Rs 10902 a year as insurance as compared to the earlier figure of Rs 1350. In Punjab, the farmers the insurance amount scaled up to Rs 22000 as against the earlier sum of Rs 8000. Dr Mirdha took up the matter with the Finance ministry and urged to reverse the "anti-farmer" policy decision. Minister of State for Finance Namonarayan Meena supported Dr Mirdha and took up the issue further with the Finance minister and IRDA chairman J Narayan. The IRDA chairman passed an executive order reversing the earlier decision. The quiet roll back was made even before Pranab Mukherjee addressed the Lok Sabha on Finance Bill. The order was promulgated from retrospective effect.
In 2010, Dr Mirdha also expressed concern on the alleged inducement of doctors by the pharmaceutical industry with gifts and hospitality. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family welfare, of which she was the member, had noted that such a practice continued because the Medical Council of India had no jurisdiction over the Pharma industry and it could not enforce the code of ethics. Jyoti Mirdha's activism over the issue spurred the Government into action. She dispatched a bunch of air tickets to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to substantiate the claim that doctors and their families were enjoying summer trips to countries like England and Scotland, courtesy a pharmaceutical company.As many as 30 family members of 11 doctors from all over the country had reportedly enjoyed the industry's hospitality. The letter and the air tickets, which Dr Mirdha sent to the PMO was evidence of the junketeering.
Jyoti Mirdha in her letter to the Prime Minister stated that the malpractice continued because even though a mandatory code made it illegal for doctors to accept "favours" from the pharmaceutical industry, there was no such deterrent for the industry from offering incentives to medical practitioners. This often resulted in ingenious methods being employed to flout the code.

Positions Held in parliament