Rajasthan budget session to begin on July 11

The budget session of Rajasthan Assembly will begin on July 11, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore said after a cabinet meeting here today.
Besides the annual budget for 2014-15, the session would take up a number of pending amendment bills.
The cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, decided that the Assembly session would begin on July 11 and all businesses would be completed by July 28, Rathore said.
The Business Advisory Committee of the Assembly would decide the date of presentation of budget and other business for the session.
The minister said the next cabinet meeting will be held in Bikaner on June 19 and 20, as was done in Bharatpur in January-February to take up public grievances and issues.

The cabinet has decided to bring in an amendment bill to the existing Nagar Palika Act to scrap direct election of mayor and presiding officers in civic bodies (municipal corporation, municipal councils and municipalities) in the upcoming Assembly session, he said.

The state government has already approved a proposal to do away with the system of direct elections for the post of mayor in municipal corporations and presiding officers of other civic bodies, he said.
Asked whether the cabinet took up the issue of rising incidents of rape and crime against women, particularly in the Chief Minister's home constituency of Jhalawar, Rathore said the BJP government was very sensitive towards women's issues.

All accused in the rape cases so far have been arrested and the victims given due compensation, the minister said. The state government would try its best to ensure that the rape cases are decided by fast-track courts, Rathore said.