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Our Economic Bureau
New Delhi, December 1: The government spoke in different voices about introducing the Insurance Regulatory (IRA) bill on Tuesday and created confusion on whether it will be shelved in the wake of the BJP's rout in the assembly elections. The tremor subsided somewhat - the Sensex fell 30 points in the morning - after finance minister Yashwant Sinha clarified in the evening that the government will attempt not only to table the bill but pass it as well.
"Let me assure that not only will the IRA Bill be introduced, but it will be passed in the current session. Let us not create panic," he said, while addressing the penultimate session of the World Economic Forum.
He said parliamentary affairs minister Madan Lal Khurana was misunderstood, while offering details about the bills that were ready for tabling in parliament.
"This was interpreted to mean that government was going back on insurance- sector reforms, which is not correct."
The confusion began with Khurana saying in the morning that the bill didnot figure in the final list. He later retracted his statement. About three hours after his morning announcement, Khurana said at a hastily called news conference that the bill figured in the second list.
A wire-service report quoted Khurana as saying that the bill would not be tabled in the winter session. This was interpreted in the political circles as the government getting cold feet about opening up a sensitive sector in the wake of assembly elections results. The cabinet recently cleared the IRA bill and allowed foreign participation up to 40 per cent.
In the morning Khurana said, "The bill is not on our priority list for the current session because the finance ministry is yet to clear some "technical points. There are some bills that we want to pass in the session, but they are not yet ready like the insurance, Uttaranchal, Vananchal and Delhi."
Khurana said the bill was not in this week's priority list of 10 bills, which would be submitted to the prime minister for considertion by the businessadvisory committee. The list comprised only cleared bills.
Responding to a question about the fate of the bill in the face of resistance from sections within the BJP and the left, the minister said, "The government's job is to table the bill, and it is up to the house to pass it."
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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