President Ram Nath Kovind has given assent to six key state Bills, including one which allows setting up of a first-of-its-kind AYUSH university at Kurukshetra, officials from the Home Ministry have said. Officials said two of these Bills are from Congress-ruled Karnataka, one each from BJP-ruled Haryana, Jharkhand and Gujarat and from Left-ruled Kerala. According to ministry officials, the Bills were sent to the President’s secretariat after consultations with all the stakeholders. The two Bills from Karnataka were Minimum Wages (Karnataka Amendment Bill), 2017 and Karnataka Maritime Board Bill, 2015. While the minimum wages Bill proposes better wages to labour from 23 industries, the maritime board Bill provides for setting up of a board for finding means to take up development projects at ports, said officials. The Bill for setting up the first AYUSH university at Haryana was sent to the Centre in 2016, seeking approval to upgrade Shri Krishna Government Ayurvedic College, Kurukshetra, as a university. The university will offer courses in all branches of AYUSH — Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy — the Haryana government has said. A government official said the Bills related to minimum wages and industrial dispute were considered on priority with an aim to push labour reforms. The President also gave assent to a Bill of the Gujarat government that envisages production of undertrial prisoners in courts through video conference instead of physical production through an amendment in the Criminal Procedure Code.
