Reform bills in focus as LS convenes

It will probably be the last session before general elections.

“The parliament session will be held from Oct. 17 to Nov. 21,” Vayalar Ravi, parliamentary affairs minister said.

The government has been emboldened by the departure of its communist allies in July who held back several key reforms for four years, but its slender majority in parliament will mean every bill will be hard fought.

The government is worried the session could be disrupted by an opposition angry about last month’s confidence vote that the government won. Opposition lawmakers flashed wads of cash then, which they said were offered as bribes to abstain.

Arun Ramanathan, a top finance ministry official, said the government will seek approval to release 250 billion rupees ($5.7 billion) to state-run banks to fund its farm debt write-off scheme in the current fiscal year.

The government also may seek to raise the foreign investment limit for the insurance sector to 49 per cent from the present 26 per cent, open up the pension sector further and increase the voting rights of investors in private banks proportional to their shareholding.

At present foreign investors can buy up to 74 per cent of a private Indian bank but their voting rights on how the bank is run are capped at 10 per cent, a major deterrent for investors trying to gain management control.

The government introduced bills to enact these reforms in 2005 but met stiff opposition from communist parties, who provided the coalition government with a majority until withdrawing support last month and triggering the vote.