No Cabinet decision on PSU stake sale

The Cabinet has not taken any decision to sell the government's remaining stakes in five non-Navaratna PSUs, a government spokeswoman said on Friday.

When asked if the Union Cabinet in its meeting on Thursday night had taken a decision on the sale of the government's residual stake in Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd, IBP Co Ltd, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, CMC Ltd and Indian Petrochemicals Corp Ltd, a government spokesperson said: "No decision (on disinvestment) was taken."

The Cabinet decided to refer the issue of state-funding of elections to the Election Commission. It wants to set up a separate election fund after consultations with the EC and political parties.

At yesterday's meeting, a seven-year-old report prepared by late Communist Party leader and former home minister Indrajit Gupta on this matter was discussed.

The 1998 report on electoral reforms proposed setting up of a separate election fund and providing facilities in kind like petrol or diesel for vehicles during campaign, loudspeakers and a telephone with specified number of free calls to candidates of recognised political parties.

The EC has been asked to convene an all-party meeting on state funding, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi told reporters here today.

Dasmunshi said the EC during parleys with political leaders would ascertain whether the steps suggested by the Indrajit Gupta committee were sufficient or more needed to be done.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which also met on Thursday evening, approved the extension of the ongoing World Bank-assisted Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) for another five years from October 1, 2005 to September 30, 2010 at a cost of Rs 115.6 crore. Of this, Rs 28.258 crore will be required during the Tenth Plan and Rs 87.353 crore during the Eleventh Plan.

The CCEA also approved the revised cost estimate for transmission system associated with Tehri Hydro Electric Project at an estimated Rs 913.84 crore, including interest during construction (IDC) of Rs 269.16 crore with commissioning schedule as March 2006 matching with generation project.

The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which also met yesterday, approved an additional Rs 400 crore for the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) for its space development programme, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee was quoted as saying by agencies.

The additional funding for Isro comes in the wake of the organisation preparing for a mission to moon in the next five years and launch of the country's most advanced satellite Insat-4A yesterday from Kouron Spaceport in French Guyana.

The Cabinet also approved India's membership of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France for 2005-06 and 2006-07. India's membership of the agency would ensure appropriate direction of the agency's research efforts in India to benefit its large population.

By becoming a participating state, India can channelise and prioritise IARC research inputs into India in an organised manner to suit the cancer research and control needs of the country in an equitably distributed fashion, said an official note.

The Cabinet also decided to introduce of the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages University Bill, 2005 in Parliament. This would grant the Hyderabad-based institute a central-university status.

The Cabinet was also informed about the contingency plan of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Animal Husbandry Department and state governments in the case of outbreak of avian influenza in the country.

This includes surveillance of the local community, multi-disciplinary rapid response teams to be set up by National Institute of Communicable Diseases as well as state governments.