Insurance Bill: House nod unlikely

In the last session of the 14th Lok Sabha, which convenes on Thursday, the government is hoping to railroad at least seven of the pending 78 Bills through Parliament and have two promulgated ordinances ratified. But the UPA's reform swansong the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill is unlikely to be enacted during its current tenure.

The Centre had introduced the long-pending Bill in the Rajya Sabha in December 2008 to raise the FDI threshold in the insurance sector from 26% to 49%. But neither has the parliamentary standing committee on finance cleared it, nor is the panel scheduled to meet during the upcoming session.

The Insurance Bill was referred to the parliamentary panel following stiff opposition and high drama in Parliament after it was tabled. "There isn't much likelihood that the Insurance Bill will be enacted this session as there is not much time and the standing committee has not finalised its views," a senior minister confirmed to FE.

Since the Bill was introduced, the 30-member committee chaired by BJP member Ananth Kumar has met only twice: the first time for a standard briefing by the ministry of finance and the second to discuss the accounting fraud at Satyam Computer Services . "We will not be meeting to discuss the Insurance Bill during the current session," a committee member told FE.

The only face-saver for the UPA, whose financial sector reforms have remained largely unfulfilled, is that the Bill will not lapse when the Lok Sabha is dissolved. However, a related piece of legislation the Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2008 introduced on the same day in the Lok Sabha to raise the capital base of the state-owned insurer, will lapse.

Bills for financial sector reform, including the Banking Regulation Amendment Bill and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, are not scheduled for discussion either when Parliament convenes for its Budget session.

The seven Bills to be taken up include the Carriage by Air Amendment Bill, 2007; the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals (Amendment) Bill, 2005; the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2008; the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2008; the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill, 2008; the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill, 2008 and the National Waterway (Lakhipur Bhanga Stretch of Barak River) Bill, 2007.