The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday sanctioned a budgetary support of Rs 77.25 crore for 13 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) under the department of heavy industries. The amount would be used to liquidate wages and other arrears of employees of these 13 CPSEs.
?It would mitigate the hardships of employees and motivate them for a better output, besides preparing them to achieve the goal of revival of these companies,? finance minister P Chidambaram said.
Employees of Andrew Yule, Bharat Opthalmic, Bharat Wagon, Hindustan Cables, three subsidiaries of HMT, Hindustan Photo Films, National Instruments, NEPA, Instrumentation Ltd, Triveni Structurals and Tungbhadra Steel products will be the beneficiaries of this decision.
This is the fourth time that the UPA government has provided grant to such sick companies for paying dues of employees. The Cabinet on Thursday also approved Indian participation in International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), at a base cost of Rs 2,500 crore.
It has also approved setting up an empowered board by the Governing Council of Institute for Plasma Research with sufficient powers required for effective implementation of the project. The Cabinet also cleared the proposal to set up a Rs 542.90 crore project to link 53 countries of the African Union, an initiative supported by President APJ Abdul Kalam.
?The project will showcase India?s capability in IT, technology, healthcare and education,? information and broadcasting minister PR Dasmunsi said.
Meanwhile, the proposed revamp of the public administration system is set to be delayed. The Cabinet on Thursday extended the term of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) by seven months. It is now expected to submit its report by 31 March 2008. The second ARC was set up to prepare a blueprint for restructuring the country?s public administration system.
Healthcare programmes have also received a boost with the government approving Rs 109 crore for continuing a national-level TB control project on Thursday. The Revised National TB Control Project to be run in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal, and implemented by a PPP programme in six states by the Indian Medical Association is expected to save 80,000 people in the next five years.
The Cabinet also approved signing of the memorandum of understanding on labour, employment and manpower development between Kuwait and India.
It also approved signing an additional protocol to the agreement on the regulation of the employment of Indian manpower between Qatar and India.
The CCEA also approved the continuation of the National Mission on Bamboo Applications till 2009 with an outlay of Rs 100 crore. The Mission, which was initiated in 2004 with an outlay of Rs 100 crore, has created a base of economic activities with an expected annual turnover of Rs 270 crore and employment for over 2.5 crore mandays.