Winter session extended; Lokpal, food bills to be moved Thursday (Second Lead)
December 21st, 2011 - 9:14 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Dec 21 (IANS) The much-awaited Lokpal and Food Security bills will be introduced in the Lok Sabha Thursday.
The contentious Lokpal bill will be tabled in the Lok Sabha Thursday and would be taken up for discussion Dec 27, when the extended three-day sitting of parliament begins, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said Wednesday.
The winter session of parliament, which was to end Thursday, has been extended. Both houses will reconvene Dec 27-29 to discuss the crucial Lokpal bill.
“The house will be reconvened from Dec 27 to 29,” Advani told reporters after meeting Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee here.
The government is also to move the judicial accountability and whistleblower protection bills during the extended sitting of parliament.
The National Food Security Bill, which seeks to provide legal entitlement of cheaper food grain to over half of India’s 1.2 billion population, will also be tabled in parliament Thursday, said Food Minister K.V. Thomas.
“We will introduce the food security bill tomorrow,” Thomas told reporters on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) here.
The union cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sunday approved the bill, a pet project of Congress president Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council.
“This is the dream project of Madam Sonia Gandhi,” Thomas said.
The bill promises 75 percent of rural population and 50 percent of urban households the right to 7 kg food grain per person per month, at Rs.3 per kg for rice, Rs.2 per kg for wheat and Re.1 per kg for coarse grains to the priority beneficiaries.
The general category will be provided at least three kilograms of food grain per person per month at half the minimum selling price.
It will also provide rations or cooked meals to children under 14 years of age, destitutes, including women and persons on the margins of society.
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- Winter session extended Dec 27-29 to discuss Lokpal (Lead) - Dec 21, 2011
- Landmark food security bill tabled in parliament (Lead) - Dec 22, 2011
- Cabinet nod to food bill likely Tuesday - Dec 12, 2011
- Cabinet clears food bill (Lead) - Dec 18, 2011
- Minister hopeful of passing food bill in budget session - Dec 22, 2011
- Cabinet meet begins, Lokpal not on agenda - Dec 18, 2011
- Will Sonia Gandhi's food bill pass muster? - Dec 18, 2011
- Will Sonia Gandhi's Food Bill past muster? (Lead) - Dec 18, 2011
- Lokpal bill in parliament Thursday, Sonia says she will fight for it (Roundup) - Dec 21, 2011
- Cabinet clears pathbreaking food bill (Roundup) - Dec 19, 2011
- Cabinet defers food bill as discussions inconclusive (Second Lead) - Dec 13, 2011
- Cabinet to take up food bill - Dec 18, 2011
- Government to take states on board over food bill - Jan 10, 2012
Tags: annual general meeting, coarse grains, congress president sonia gandhi, food bills, food grain, food minister, indian sugar, judicial accountability, l k advani, legal entitlement, Lok Sabha, manmohan singh, national advisory council, national food security, prime minister manmohan, prime minister manmohan singh, sugar mills association, urban households, whistleblower protection, winter session