The Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha on the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill will hopefully submit its report in the upcoming winter session of parliament furthering the government's reform agenda, union Finance Minister Arun Jailtey Monday said.He made the announcement at the Citibank Investor Summit here.
Parliament, where the Congress and the Left parties continue to oppose certain clauses in the bill, is scheduled to convene Nov 24 for the month-long winter session. The panel has been asked to give its report on the last day of the first week of the session.In the 15-member committee headed by BJP member Chandan Mitra, seven members, including the Biju Janata Dal's Kalpataru Das and Independent Rajeev Chandrashekhar, support the bill.
The Congress has three members while the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, the CPI-M, the Trinamool Congress and the AIADMK have one member each. They are also opposed to the certain clauses in the bill.The amendment aims at increasing private equity from 26 to 49 percent in the insurance sector, and was referred to the Select Committee in August.The panel has already had consultations with public and private sector insurance companies, employees' representatives, experts and officials.
The government can convene a joint session to get the bill passed but only after it is voted on and defeated in the Rajya Sabha.The BJP has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha but has only 42 members in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has 57 members while the Congress has 69 in the Rajya Sabha.The Congress had said the NDA introduced many amendments to what the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by it had tabled in the house. Thus, it required a closer look.The BJP had opposed the insurance bill when the UPA tabled it in the Rajya Sabha.