IRA Bill tabled amid walkout
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 28 — The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 1999, to set up a regulatory body for the sector and open it up to private and foreign investors, was introduced in the Lok Sabha today even as non-Congress Opposition parties staged a walkout in protest against the measure.

The Bill, which has been hanging fire for nearly three years now, was introduced by the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha.

The minister said the Bill was in conformity with the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, which was headed by a Congress member in the 12th Lok Sabha, and there was a cap of 26 per cent on foreign equity participation in the sector.

Allaying members’ apprehensions that it was a sellout to multinationals, Mr Sinha said there was no proposal to hand over any assets of the public sector insurance companies to foreign companies and the Bill did not contain any provision for privatising the Life Insurance Corporation and the General Insurance Corporation.

The permission for the introduction of the Bill secured voice vote after nearly 100 minutes of procedural wrangles and other objections raised by agitated CPI members.

The CPM, which had arranged a large number of petitions, signed by 1.5 crore employees of insurance companies, to be delivered to the Petition Committee Branch of Parliament this afternoon, maintained that the House should first consider the petition. Members of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) also opposed the Bill.

On the CPM member, Mr Rupchand Pal’s point of order to press for the introduction of the petition, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Pramod Mahajan, quoted relevant rules to say that a petition could not stand if a Bill was yet to be published in the gazette. He added that Mr Pal should be allowed to submit the petition only after the House completed the process of introduction of the Bill.

Realising the agitated mood of the non-Congress members, the Union Home Minister, Mr L.K.Advani, also intervened to say that there would not have been any objection to the petition if it did not seek to stall the introduction of the Bill.

The Speaker, Mr G.M.C.Balayogi, ruled that the agenda was clear about the Bill’s dominance in sequence. The Speaker also restored order by calling other members of Left parties who had given notices against the introduction of the Bill. Thereafter, when the Finance Minister introduced the Bill, the members belonging to the Left parties, the SP and the RJD staged a walkout.

The Opposition said the Bill was anti- national, against the spirit of the Constitution and economic self-reliance and amounted to a sellout to multinationals. Mr Indrajit Gupta of the CPI said the government had no authority to transfer public sector assets to foreign companies.

Rebutting the CPM’s charge that the BJP had gone back on its opposition to the Bill, as it had forcefully advocated in 1997, Mr Sinha said the Bill brought forward by the United Front Government had sought to sweep under the carpet several issues.

He said the government had accepted all recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee, including a cap on foreign equity at 26 per cent instead of 40 per cent.

The minister refuted charges that the Bill was anti-national and unconstitutional.

Later, speaking to newspersons, the Finance Minister expressed confidence that the Bill would be passed by Parliament.

"I am confident that we will get it approved in Parliament as except for a small section opposed to the Bill, there is a general consensus for its passage," he added.

Cong’s veiled threat on Bill
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Oct 28 — Aware of its numerical superiority in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress today held out a veiled threat to create hurdles in the passage of important Bills, especially the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Bill introduced in Parliament.

Although the Congress did not issue any categorical threat to block the passage of the IRA Bill there is resentment against the manner in which the government responded to the Congress offer of "constructive cooperation" by including late Rajiv Gandhi’s name in the Bofors chargesheet.

"The Congress president had offered constructive cooperation but the government led by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee has begun on a note of confrontation" the Congress spokesman Mr Ajit Jogi said.

According to a party leader, there is a division in the party with the younger MPs preferring to go all-out to obstruct the passage of important Bills and the elders favouring a mild approach.

The Congress is clearly banking on the fact that the government is in a minority in the Rajya Sabha and if the Opposition gets its act together it will be difficult for the government to get Bills through.

For the record, Mr Jogi said the party was yet to study the Bill introduced today and would offer its stand after having perused it.

While moving the Bill, the Union Finance Minister, Mr Yashwant Sinha said the clauses in the current Bill were drafted as per the recommendations of a report of a Standing Committee on Finance in the 12th Lok Sabha.

The Congress was then in a mood to allow a smooth passage of the Bill but now in the changed political scenario, the main Opposition party wants to create hurdles for the government.

To a question if the Congress was bargaining to delete the name of Rajiv Gandhi in exchange for its support, Mr Jogi said: "It is not a question of bargaining but of attitude.

Insurance staff stir today

NEW DELHI, Oct 28 (UNI) — Over two lakh employees of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) will strike work tomorrow in protest against the introduction of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Bill in the Lok Sabha today clearing the way for the privatisation of the insurance sector.

Immediately after the introduction of the Bill by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, employees of the state-owned insurance companies staged a demonstration against the move.

"We are not against the setting up of a regulatory authority but are totally against the privatisation of the sector’’, All-India LIC Employees Federation joint secretary B.S. Rawat said here.

He said the unions were demanding a national debate on what benefits the common man would get out of the privatisation of the industry.

"They are harping on infrastructure development through opening up of the insurance sector. The LIC and the GIC are capable of providing funds for infrastructure development’’, Mr Rawat said. He said the LIC had so far provided Rs 127,000 crore for infrastructure development.

The Unions joining the strike would be the All-India LIC Employees Organisation, the All-India Insurance Employees Association and the General Insurance Employees All-India Association.

The unions appealed to different parties, including allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party, for support to their cause. Trade unions like the BMS, the HMS, the CITU, AITUC and INTUC had extended their support to the insurance employees, Mr Rawat said.