Missed signal: President skips pension regulator

Is the government as serious about a pension regulator as it was earlier? If President Pratibha Patil’s address to Parliament is a measure, it’s not.

Her speech on Monday made no mention of the regulator.

To be sure, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill is listed for introduction this session.

PRS Legislative Research, a not-for-profit body, has pointed out that the President’s address on June 4, 2009, had proposed a legislation on pension sector regulator, and that on February 22, 2010, Patil’s speech did not mention it at all.

The Pension Regulator Bill was introduced way back in 2005, and it lapsed subsequently.

On food security, the report has noted that the President mentioned it last year and reiterated it this time around. But the Food Security Bill is yet to be tabled in Parliament. Interestingly, the Food Security Bill is not yet listed among those scheduled to be introduced in Parliament during the Budget session.

The Bill can be introduced in Parliament only after it gets an approval from the Union Cabinet. If the Food Security Bill manages to get the Cabinet nod during this session, it may well be placed in the House.

Another observation made by PRS is that the President did not even refer to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, while she was emphatic on its implementation last year.

As has been reported earlier, the Centre and the states are yet to reach a consensus on rolling out GST, which was scheduled for implementation from April 1, 2010.

Some of the other issues which the President skipped this time included strengthening the Right to Information law, introduction of a model public services law, legislation for judicial reform, and setting up the National Council for Human Resources in Health as an over-arching regulatory body for the health sector.

The president had mentioned all these in her speech to Parliament in June 2009.

The Bills listed for introduction this session include those on Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Amendment, Biotechnology Regulatory Authority of India, Chartered Accountants and Cost & Works Accountants Amendment (to incorporate limited liability partnership as a vehicle for professional bodies), Banking Regulation Amendment, State Bank of India Amendment ( to reduce the statutory limit of minimum shareholding of the Central government from 55% to 51%), Clinical Establishment Registration and Regulation, Foreign Educational Institutions Regulation of Entry and Operation, Institute of Technology Amendment, Copyright Amendment, Press and registrations Amendment, Cinematograph Bill, Central Vigilance Commission Amendment, Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (acquisition of right of user) amendment, Land Acquisition Amendment among others.

In all, the government plans to introduce as many as 63 new bills. Also, there are 16 pending bills for consideration and passing, and another 10 pending bills may be taken up if the standing committee reports on them are presented.

Since inception, PRS has directly briefed members of Parliament from over 20 political parties. The body is financed by the Ford Foundation and Google, and its institutional anchor is the Centre for Policy Research.