This Article is From Aug 14, 2014

On Key Insurance Bill, Government Agrees to Congress Demand

On Key Insurance Bill, Government Agrees to Congress Demand
New Delhi: A committee of parliamentarians from Rajya Sabha, headed by Chandan Mitra, will examine the Insurance Bill and give a report within six weeks, sources said.

The Congress, which had been pushing for a parliamentary panel to examine the Bill, wanted Anand Sharma for the post. But the government argued that convention demands the post go to a member of the ruling party.

The bill, which is expected to increase foreign participation in an insurance venture from the existing 26 per cent to 49 per cent, may be introduced in the Rajya Sabha today and then it would be sent to the committee. (Insurance Bill: What You Need to Know)

The other members of the panel may include Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, J P Nadda, Anand Sharma, B K Hariprasad, P Selvam, Ramgopal Yadav, Derek O' Brian, Satish Chandra Mishra, P Rajeev, D Raja, Naresh Gujral and Rajiv Chandrashekhar, the sources added.

The capitulation to the Congress demand comes after the government got blocked in its attempt to introduce the Insurance Bill in the Rajya Sabha. (Once-Bitten Modi Government Plays Safe, Attempts Consensus on Key Bill)

The NDA has around 60 representatives in the 250-member House. So it cannot get the bill approved without the support of some Opposition parties.  

But after ally Sharad Pawar's NCP decided to support the bill, the Congress submitted a new notice, which asked that the bill be referred to a parliamentary committee.

Other parties opposed to the bill include the Left parties and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.

India opened its insurance sector to private and foreign ownership in 2000, when the BJP led the Union government. In 2008, the UPA, anchored by the Congress, proposed changing ownership laws to allow 49 per cent foreign participation in insurance ventures, but it could not win Parliament's approval.
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