Press Registration Act amendments on Cabinet agenda

Amid the controversy over publication of International Herald Tribune (IHT) from India, the Union Cabinet is likely to consider amendments in the Press Registration Act (PRA) for allowing the government to screen newspaper titles before they are cleared by the Registrar of Newspapers of India (RNI).

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs is expected to take up .the setting up of an investment commission, which is likely to be a non-government panel headed by a professional, sources said.

Other proposals likely to be considered are a Rs 6,000 crore food-for-work programme in 150 most backward districts of the country and reconstitution of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF), headed by M S Swaminathan.

Sources said the publication of the 'Indian edition' of the IHT by Hyderabad-based Midram Publications had caused a major embarrassment to the government following which the then RNI chief G D Beliya was shunted out of the department and another senior official put on compulsory wait.

The Cabinet meeting tomorrow is likely to suggest a change in clause of the Press Registration Act to guarantee that the RNI gives clearance to a newspaper title only after consultation with the ministry, sources said, adding this is expected to bar Indian editions of foreign newspapers.

The Cabinet will also consider a food-for-work programme to generate income and employment for the poor.

Since six months of this fiscal have already elapsed, the allocation this year for the programme is expected to be around Rs 6,000 crore but next year it will be to the tune of Rs 15,000 crore, sources said.

Funds from existing social schemes including the Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana, Sampoorna Gramin Sadak Yojana, the rural employment guarantee programme and Prime Minister's Rozgar Yojana are proposed to be used for the new food-for-work programme, sources said, adding the ministry for rural development will be the nodal ministry for the new scheme.

The common minimum programme of the government has sought to guarantee 100 days of work to at least one able-bodied person in every poor family in the country under an Employment Guarantee Act, they said.

The proposed programme will go a long way in guaranteeing employment in the backward districts and the list of the selected districts may be taken up by the Cabinet.

The government had constituted an NCF in January this year and its chairman Sompal Shastri resigned after the change of guard at the Centre in May.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government announced the appointment of M S Swaminathan as its head but a formal approval by the Cabinet is yet to take place.

While the proposal for an investment commission has been mooted by the finance minister, the department of industrial policy and promotion has written a note to house it with itself.

This assumes significance in the face of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board being shifted out of the ministry during the regime of the previous government.

Commerce minister Kamal Nath has, however, favoured its inclusion in the industry ministry.