Cabinet revamp could be a 'snag' in Insurance Bill

The meeting of the Select Committee of Parliament scheduled for Wednesday to deliberate the Insurance Bill for hiking foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the sector has been postponed as Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and JP Nadda have ceased to be members after being sworn in as minister of state (independent charge) for minority affairs and health minister respectively.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajya Sabha member of Parliament Chandan Mitra, who is the chairman of the committee said, "The meeting has been postponed and would be held as soon as the replacement is made for the two members." The regular procedure would have to be followed to appoint two new members and the next meeting cannot be held until this is done, he added. "As soon as this procedure is completed, the meeting will take place so that the Insurance Bill is cleared in time for being introduced in the Winter Session."

According to sources, the committee was earlier expected to submit its final report to the government in the third week of November. Mitra emphasised that the deadline for introducing the Bill, aimed to raise the FDI cap in the sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent, in the Winter Session, beginning on November 24, would not be missed.

The National Democratic Alliance government had agreed to the demand of the Congress-led Opposition in August to refer the Bill to the 15-member committee. The meeting is expected to discuss the provisions of the Bill in detail to address concerns of the Congress so that it can be approved in the Winter Session.

According to sources, the Congress has indicated that it will support the Bill if the government agrees to drop amendments proposed to the earlier Bill, which was introduced during the United Progressive Alliance regime.