Right from approving a bill that bars commercial surrogacy to hiking Minimum Support Price (MSP), the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, 3 July, approved several proposals.
Other Bills including Central Educational Institutions Bill and New Delhi International Arbitration Centre were passed in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, respectively.
As per PTI, the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2019 proposes to regulate surrogacy in India by establishing a National Surrogacy Board at the central level and State Surrogacy Boards and appropriate authorities in the state and Union Territories.
"The proposed legislation will ensure effective regulation of surrogacy, prohibit commercial surrogacy and allow ethical surrogacy to the needy infertile Indian couples which allows only close relatives to act as surrogates ," an official said.
The Union Cabinet also gave its approval to proposals for leasing out three major airports — Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mangaluru — of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) through public-private partnership (PPP), an official spokesperson said.
Earlier this year, the Adani group had won the bids to operate the three airports for a period of 50 years.
MSP Hiked for 17 Kharif Crops
The cabinet on Wednesday approved the increase in the MSP for all Kharif crops for 2019-2020 season.
The decision raises MSP for paddy from Rs 1,750 per quintal to Rs 1,815.
Apart from paddy, the Centre has approved a hike in MSP of 13 other crops, including corn, peanut and pigeon pea.
According to The Indian Express, MSP for Jowar has been increased by Rs 120 per quintal and Ragi by Rs 253 per quintal. For 'tur,' 'moong,' and 'urad' pulses, MSP has been raised by Rs 214, Rs 74 and Rs 100 respectively for the 2019-20 crop season.
As for medium cotton, MSP has also been raised by Rs 105 quintal and for long cotton, it has been hiked by Rs 100 a quintal.
Grant of OGAS to Group 'A' Executive Cadre Officers
The cabinet also approved the proposal for Grant of Organised Group ‘A’ Service (OGAS) to Group ‘A’ Executive Cadre Officers of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and extension of benefit of Non-Functional Financial Upgradation (NFFU) and Non-Functional Selection Grade (NFSG).
This is also said to come out with certain benefits — This would result in grant of NFFU to eligible Group ‘A’ Executive Cadre Officers of CAPF; the decision would also benefit Group ‘A’ Executive Cadre Officers of CAPF for availing the benefit of NFSG at an enhanced rate of 30 percent as per guidelines.
Earlier, several Writ Petitions were filed in Delhi High Court by Group ‘A’ Executive Cadre Officers of CAPF for grant of OGAS status and consequential benefits of NFFU and NFSG.
Apart from this, few more bills were introduced in both the houses. Central Educational Institutions Bill was introduced in the upper house, i.e. Rajya Sabha, while NDIAC, Dentists (Amendment) Bills were introduced in the lower house, i.e. Lok Sabha.
Central Educational Institutions Bill in Rajya Sabha
Parliament passed a bill to enable Universities or colleges to be considered as an unit instead of department while providing reservation for filling vacancies of teachers in central education institutes.
Minister of Human Resource Development, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said, “The passage of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Bill 2019 in Rajya Sabha will help in filling up the existing over 7,000 vaccancies in the central universities.”
The bill, which was cleared by the Lok Sabha on Monday, seeks to replace an ordinance issued in March this year.
NDIAC, Dentists (Amendment) Bills in Lok Sabha
A bill to set up an independent and autonomous regime for institutionalised domestic and international arbitration was introduced in the Lok Sabha known as the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC) Bill.
The bill seeks to replace an ordinance issued in March this year by the previous government.
Opposing the introduction of the Bill, Congress member Shashi Tharoor said that the arbitration body should be autonomous and independent of government as several public sector undertaking will be a party to it.
Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who moved the Bill, said that the existing arbitration body has resolved 55 cases in 25 years.
Coming to the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, The Hindu reported that Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan clarified that the Centre does not discriminate against anyone in the nomination process for the Dental Council of India. “We don't prefer anyone nor against anyone,” said Vardhan and added that there's no nepotism in the nomination process.
(With inputs from PTI, The Indian Express, The Hindu)
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