The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved amendments in the Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 to exclude the Chairpersons of the National Commission for the Scheduled Castes and the National Commission for the Scheduled Tribes from incurring any disqualification for being chosen as or for being an MP.
The amendment is required in view of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes being bifurcated into two different bodies.
The Cabinet has also constituted an autonomous National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) to coordinate and harmonise the skill development efforts of the Government and the private sector to achieve the targets during the 12th Plan to make Indian youth employable.
NSDA will subsume the Prime Minister's National Council on Skill Development (PMNCSD), the National Skill Development Coordination Board (NSDCB) and the Office of the Adviser to the PM on Skill Development. It will be located in the Finance Ministry. It will also be empowered to raise extra budgetary resources.
The Cabinet also approved official amendments to the Multi-State Co-operative Societies (Amendment) Bill to ensure that it has provision for revival of sick societies. Once the Central Registrar declares any society as sick, then the Central Government can prepare a scheme for rehabilitation and reconstruction which if approved by the General Body lead to board being reorganized by including persons having experience in the field of co-operative, management finance, accountancy to help in revival.
The CCEA approved setting up a new major port at Sagar Island in West Bengal through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. It also approved the proposal for revival of five closed units of Fertilizer Corporation of India limited at Sindri, Talcher, Ramagundam, Gorakhpur and Korba by waiving loan and interest thereon amounting to Rs.10,644 crore. The CCEA approved proposal for intercorporate loan of Rs.171 crore and commitment fee of Rs.25 crore for FCIl to be given by PSUs involved in the revival of FCIl units at Sindri, Talcher and Ramagundam.
Meanwhile, the government has also decided to declare the year 2013 as "Water Conservation Year 2013 during which a number of mass awareness activities will be undertaken to sensitize and encourage people to conserve water and use it judiciously.