Surrogacy Bill gets Cabinet nod

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 26

The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved amendments to Surrogacy Regulation Bill, 2019, incorporating changes the Rajya Sabha Select Committee recommended.

The changes would mean the Cabinet agrees with the select committee view that a surrogate mother need not be a close relative of the intending couple. The original Bill which the Lok Sabha had passed mandated that only close relatives of intending parents can be surrogates.

The Cabinet also agreed to extend surrogacy services to single women (35 to 45 years) as the panel suggested.

Original provision said altruistic surrogacy would be open only to infertile married Indian and NRI couples, who failed to conceive in five years of marriage.

The Cabinet today gave a nod to the following new recommendations of the select committee — “the definition of surrogate mothers should not be restricted to close relatives alone and should include any willing woman; single women should be allowed, including widows and divorcees, as also Persons of Indian Origin.”

The RS panel also suggested removal of the provision of requirement of five years to seek surrogacy, besides increasing the insurance cover for the surrogate mother from 16 to 36 months. The Cabinet stamped these changes today.

On eligibility, the Cabinet agreed with the committee which said five years is too long a time for any couple to wait for surrogacy. The amended Bill will reduce the waiting period.

In another change the Cabinet allowed, the new Bill will include as eligibility for surrogacy proven medical conditions like absence of uterus by birth, non-functional uterus, removal of uterus due to cancer, fibroids and patients with chronic medical condition where normal pregnancy is ruled out and it is medically proven beyond any doubt that surrogacy is the only option.

With the deletion of the definition of infertility, needy persons will be able to seek surrogacy on the basis of a certificate of medical indication requiring gestational surrogacy.

The Cabinet earlier agreed with the committee suggestion to pass the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (Regulation) Bill. The ART Bill was passed by the Cabinet recently. The government will bring the amended Bill in the upcoming Budget session of Parliament.

Approval for Textiles Mission

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the National Technical Textiles Mission with an outlay of Rs1,480 c to position India as a leading manufacturer of technical fabrics that are mostly used in industrial applications. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in the Budget announced a proposal to set up the mission with a four-year implementation period from 2020-21 to 2023-24.

Ffirm for Chabahar port

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said a decision had been taken to form a company, Inter-Ports Global Ltd, to speed up the development of Iran’s Chabahar port, in which India has holdings. Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said to bring in experts for the development of Chabahar, IPGL is exempted from the guidelines of the Department of Public Enterprise. TNS

Insurance cover up

• The Cabinet agrees to extend surrogacy services to single women (35 to 45 years)
• The proposed insurance cover for surrogate mother has now been increased to 36 months from 16 months provided in the earlier version
• The amended Bill is likely to be tabled in the second half of the Budget Session beginning next month