NE NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 5

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to extend reservation for SCs and STs in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies for another 10 years, highly placed sources said.

The reservation for these categories in the LS and the assemblies was to expire on January 25, 2020.

The government will bring a bill to extend the reservation in this session, the sources said.

While reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the legislature is carried out through constitutional amendments, similar reservation in jobs for these categories is decided by respective state governments, a senior functionary explained.

Government also approved The Central Sanskrit Universities Bill to be introduced in the Parliament. The bill has provision for conversion of three Sanskrit Deemed to be Universities into Central Universities.
The Cabinet also approved land monetization at Pragati Maidan to build a five-star hotel. ITPO will undertake the mega project to redevelop Pragati Maidan into a world class International Exhibition and Convention Centre. It also approved The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Bill seeks to amend the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act, 2007.

ECI & Election Commission of Maldives MoU gets nod

The Cabinet has also approved an MoU between Election Commission of India and Election Commission of Maldives on cooperation in the field of Electoral Management and Administration.
This includes exchange of knowledge and experience in the field of organizational and technical development of electoral process, support in exchanging information, institutional strengthening and capacity building and training of personnel.
The proposed MoU will promote bilateral cooperation, aimed at building technical assistance and capacity support for the Election Commission of Maldives.