Bill to allow proxy voting for armed forces soon

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 18. A Bill allowing proxy voting for the armed forces personnel will be introduced in the monsoon session of Parliament. ``The Government intends to get the Bill in the coming session of Parliament,'' the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Pramod Mahajan, told presspersons after a meeting of the Union Cabinet today.

The Union Law Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, has been asked to consult political parties to evolve a consensus on the issue. Serious differences had cropped up on the issue in the Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister said the Government was keen on bill as it felt that ``the armed forces are a special category and 90 per cent of them never get a chance to vote'.

Mr. Mahajan said the Cabinet took up seven items for consideration, prominent amongst them being the sanctioning of Rs. 100 crores for Orissa, the granting of flexibility to the State Governments in fixing margins for fair price shops, the introduction of Rs. 1 lakh award for Sanskrit scholars and the decision to introduce a bill changing the administrative structure of the Indian Council of World Affairs.

The Cabinet also approved the introduction of a Bill on Offshore Areas Mineral Development Regulation Bill 2001 in Parliament, besides ratifying the extradition treaty with the Philippines and the approval of the instruments of accession of the Budapest treaty.

On granting flexibility to the State Governments to fix the margin for fair price shops, Mr. Mahajan said there is a restriction that the margin should be within 50 paise per kg over and above the central issue price for distribution of foodgrains. The removal of the margin limit would make foodgrains more viable. He said this would not apply to the distribution of the Antyodaya Anna Yojana where the end retail price is to be retained at Rs. 2 per kg for wheat and Rs. 3 per kg for rice.

The Cabinet approved a proposal to award the ``Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Samman'' to five young Sanskrit scholars annually. The award carries Rs. 1 lakh and a citation. The award is being introduced as a part of the existing scheme of President's award of certificate of honor to eminent Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Persian and Arabic scholars.

The government proposes to introduce a Bill in the coming session of Parliament changing the administrative structure of the Indian Council of World Affairs. Under the new Bill, the ICWA will be headed by the Vice-President while the External Affairs Minister will be its vice-president. In the proposed governing council, the Lok Sabha Speaker will nominate five members from the Lower House, while the Rajya Sabha chairman will nominate three members from the upper house. The governing body will also have academicians and representatives of trade bodies as its members.

The Offshore Areas Mineral Development Bill provides for the regulation and development of mineral resources in territorial waters, continental shelves and exclusive economic zones of the country. The Bill, Mr. Mahajan said, would ensure that the mineral exploration and development in off shore areas is streamlined and begins to attract private investment in the mineral sector.

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Section  : National
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