UPA to table employment bill in LS

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November 26, 2004 23:17 IST

The United Progressive Alliance coordination committee on Friday night decided to bring forward in the winter session of Parliament a bill to provide 100 days of employment in rural areas.

After a three-hour meeting of the committee, chaired by UPA chairwoman Sonia Gandhi and attended by, among others, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it was also decided to ascertain the "final views of all political parties" on the Women's Reservation Bill, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in New Delhi.

The FM said that the issue of rollback of hike in petrol and diesel prices was not raised.

The National Employment Guarantee programme, outlined in the UPA's common minimum programme, envisages 100 days of employment to one member of each family in rural areas through food-for-work and similar programmes.

In addition, about 20 important legislations will be introduced in Parliament, including the Patents (Amendment) Bill.

The Lok Pal Bill is not in the priority list, the minister said in reply to a question.

The minister said that the government side briefed the committee on the decisions taken in respect of the agenda set by the CMP.

"Broadly, the coordination committee expressed satisfaction on the number of items implemented in the short span of six months," he said.

Among those who came were Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh, Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party), Ramvilas Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party), K Chandrasekhar Rao and C Rajeshwar Rao (TRS), Mehbooba Mufti (People's Democratic Party) and Lalu Prasad (Rashtriya Janata Dal).

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet and CPI leader A B Bardhan were also there as special invitees.

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