In a bid to curb hoarding and unscrupulous trading, the Cabinet on Tuesday extended the Government’s control of pulses, edible oil and oil seeds under the Essential Commodities Act by one year. This would enable States to take steps on curbing the manipulations in the trading of these commodities. The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also approved MoUs with Germany and Cambodia in education and tourism sector respectively.
The Cabinet also approved setting up of a national-level institute — Indian Sign language Research and Training Centre (ISlRTC) — for research and training on sign language to provide increased accessibility in education, workplace and other activities of life to five million hearing-impaired people. Further, for its part, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a `1,575-cr highway project in Odisha.
Briefing media about the Cabinet decisions, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the validity of a Central order was extended from October 1 to September 30, 2016 in respect of pulses, edible oils and oilseeds. “In view of shortages, it was decided in 2014 that pulses, edible oils and edible oilseeds be brought under control order to ensure availability. The same order is expiring on September 30,” he said.
“States can impose stock limits/licensing requirements etc to curb unscrupulous trading, hoarding and profiteering. The extension will also help the States in tackling the problem of ensuring adequate availability of these commodities in the domestic market and keep prices under control,” said the official statement.
The Cabinet, Prasad said, has also decided to put stock limit on registered warehouses with regards to pulses, edible oils and oilseeds. Prasad said the whole idea of extending the control order by one year more is to ensure that state governments take appropriate measures to undertake various legal initiatives available to them under the Essential Commodities Act to make these articles available.
The MoU approved by Cabinet is expected develop ties between India and Germany in higher education sector especially in the field of research, skill development and faculty development. The Cabinet also approved another MoU on tourism sector with Cambodia. The MoU was signed during Vice President Hamid Ansari’s Cambodia visit on September 16.
The ISlRTC will be a national-level institute for research and training on sign language to provide increased accessibility in education, workplace and other activities of life to five million hearing-impaired people.
ISlRTC will be set up as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and will function under the aegis of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. t shall be located initially at the Institute for Physically Handicapped, New Delhi.
As for the road project, the CCEA approved Rs 1,575.38-crore highway project in Odisha under its flagship highways building programme NHDP. “The project is meant for the development of four-laning of Cuttack-Angul Section of National Highway NH-42 in Odisha,” an official statement said.
This will be done under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase III in BOT (Toll) mode on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (BOT/DBFOT) basis, it said.
Ahead of Prime Minister’s address at the UN Sustainable Development Summit, the Union Cabinet also discussed the UN’s 2030 agenda for sustainable development and India’s position on it. “The Cabinet was also informed of the 2030 agenda of sustainable development of the UN, India’s stand on it and the debate that happened on the issue in the world,” said Prasad.