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Friday, May 10, 2013

Hishey serves notice on Companies Bill; Frequent adjournments keep discussion pending

MP ALSO RECEIVES UPDATES ON STATUS OF ROADS, RAIL PROJECT, CLIMATE CHANGE AND DEMAND FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION OF BHUTIA, LEPCHA AND LIMBOO LANGUAGES
GANGTOK, 09 May: Rajya Sabha MP from Sikkim, Hishey Lachungpa, it may be recalled, has served a notice for the Upper House seeking an amendment to the Companies Bill 2012. Sikkim’s reservations on certain clauses in the Bill, already pushed through the Lok Sabha, are expected to be presented by Mr. Lachungpa. The Notice of amendment which was to be moved at a sitting of the Rajya Sabha could not be taken up after the Bill was tabled in the Upper House due to frequent adjournments, an official communiqué from the MP’s office informs. And now the Budget Session of the Parliament has been adjourned Sine die [from 08 May, 2012].
The MP, it is informed, had desired that the mention to the Registration of Companies (Sikkim) Act 1961 at Page 9, line 9, Section 1 (67) of the Bill be deleted and amended. Similarly, the MP has also desired that mention to the Sikkim Act in Page 231, lines 34 and 35 under Section 465 (1) and 465 (3) also be deleted.
Mr. Lachungpa, the communiqué adds, also held discussions with various leaders on the Bill including Union Minister for Corporate Affairs, Sachin Pilot.
The Companies Bill 2012 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 18 December and was passed the same day. Chapter 29, Section 465 (1) states that “The Companies Act, 1956 and the Registration of Companies (Sikkim) Act, 1961 shall stand repealed” with the passage of the Companies Bill 2012.
The Bill was much in the news across the country for the FDI regime it facilitates into the retail sector. After extensive exchange of allegations and counter-allegations, it was passed surprisingly quickly, within a day. This also caught Sikkim off-guard, but as details of the Bill became known, protests against the repealing of an Old Law of Sikkim began. The State Government, on its part, engaged a Constitutional Expert to study the repeal of the Sikkim Registration of Companies Act, 1961 with the passage of the Companies Bill, and help draft an appropriate response for the central government. Mr. Lachungpa, was part of this study along with the Lok Sabha MP PD Rai and the constitutional expert.
It may be mentioned here that the new Bill clearly allows or companies already registered and operating under the old law to continue to be valid and deemed already registered.
Even as debate on the Companies Bill is awaited, the MP has kept busy, seeking answers from the concerned Union Ministers on a host of Sikkim-specific issues ranging from Constitutional recognition of Bhutia, Lepcha and Limboo languages to Centre’s commitment to infrastructure development in the State.
In a query submitted on the inclusion of Bhutia, Lepcha and Limbu languages in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution as official languages, the MP was informed that an Inter Ministerial Committee had been constituted to evolve a set of objective criteria with reference to proposals/ representations to include more languages [including Bhutia, Lepcha and Limbu] in the Eighth Schedule and to examine such proposals. A final decision is however yet to be taken on demands for inclusion of 38 more languages including the ones from Sikkim, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, RPN Singh, informed the MP on 08 May.
The Minister of State further informed that an “in-depth study of the whole gamut of the issue, including recommendations of Shri Sitakant Mohapatra committee to suggest a set of uniform criteria was being made by the Inter Ministerial Committee”.
On a question seeking updates on upgradation, widening and carpeting of North Sikkim Highway, the Minister of State for Road, Transport and Highways Dr. Tushar A. Chaudhary, informed that the improvement of North Sikkim Highway from Gangtok to Mangan has been included under Phase ‘B’ of the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North East (SARDP-NE), which, however, has not yet been approved for implementation by the Central Government.
As for the Railway to Sikkim project, the latest anticipated cost of the project is Rs. 3,380.58 crore, against which Rs. 102.63 crore had been spent up to March 2013. An outlay of Rs.25 crore has been proposed in Railway Budget 2013-14 for it. The Sevoke-Rangpo new line project (44.39 km) was included in Railway Budget 2008-09. This was stated by the Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Choudhary while replying to a question tabled by Mr. Lachungpa in the Rajya Sabha.
The Minister also said that the Final Location Survey of the project has been completed and the work had been entrusted to M/s IRCON, a PSU under the Ministry of Railways, for execution. Target for completion has not however been fixed.
The MP was also informed that the grant-in-aid to NGOs is considered on receipt of complete proposals along with recommendation of State Level Committee on Voluntary Efforts along with Inspection Report duly countersigned by the District Collector and subject to availability of funds in a particular scheme during a particular financial year. This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Tribal Affairs Ranee Narah on a question put up by the MP on pending approvals for the welfare of tribals. The Minister also said that receipt of proposals for grant-in-aid to NGOs and processing thereof for release of funds is a continuous process as per the scheme guidelines.
The Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region in turn informed that it has sanctioned 338 development projects with approved cost of Rs. 3,487.65 crore under Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources, out of which 24 projects worth Rs. 313.82 crore pertained to Sikkim.
Out of the 338 projects sanctioned in the last three years, 129 projects are delayed, and in the case of Sikkim, completion is delayed in 12 projects. This was stated by the DoNER Minister on a question put up by Mr. lachungpa on the programmes of the DONER ministry.
The MP also put up questions on Zoological Parks and Global Warming during the current session. Several other questions could not be taken up after the House was adjourned sine die on 08 May, his office further informs.
The Minister of State (independent charge) for Environment and Forests, Jayanthi Natarajan, responding to a set of questions posed by Mr. Lachungpa, informed that a study to assess the impact of climate change on four key sectors of Indian economy, namely agriculture, water, natural ecosystems & biodiversity and health in four climate sensitive regions of India, namely the Himalayan region, the Western Ghats, the Coastal Area and the North-East Region has been conducted and a report titled “Climate Change and India: A 4X4 Assessment - A Sectoral and Regional Analysis for 2030s” was published in 2010. The study projects a mixed picture of implications for climate parameters and related impacts on the relevant sectors in all four regions. The study also projected overall warming, increase in precipitation variable water yield, change in the composition of the forests, spread of Malaria in new areas and threats of its transmission for longer duration, which are likely to cause adverse impact on the lives of human beings.
She further informed that during the 12th Five Year Plan, a new thematic scheme on “Climate Change Action Programme” with an outlay of Rs. 300 crores was approved to build capacity and support implementation of relevant actions at the national and state level.

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