RAJYA SABHA(keralamontor.com) December 5, 2002.

Private Employment Exchanges Planned

The Government would permit setting up of private Employment Exchanges to promote job opportunities in the country. The Labour Minister Dr. Sahib Singh told the Rajya Sabha during question hour today that there are provisions for anyone wishing to set up a private employment exchange. He said that there are 939 employment exchanges in a country out of which 363 are computerised. The Labour Minister said that the employment exchanges are under the administrative and financial control of respective states/U.T governments and these are being modernised according to their financial capacity.

Dr. Sahib Singh said there are currently about 4.16 crore persons registered in the employment exchanges out of which 56% were shown unemployed, 32 % are those who have jobs but would like to have change and 12% are students. The Labour Minister added that job seekers registered with employment exchanges are not necessarily unemployed and thus the employment exchange data does not provide the complete picture of unemployment in the country.

Trade Unions have generally opposed recommendations on the National Commission on Labour especially relating retrenchment, lay-off and closure. However, they have also suggested for further consultations in the matter. The government has already started tripartite consultations on the recommendations of the Commission with various social partners. The recommendations were also discussed in the 38th Session of Indian Labour Conference held on 28-29 September, 2002 and at a National Seminar on Unorganised Sector Workers held on 7-8 November, 2002. A Tripartite Committee meeting is also proposed to be convened in the month of February, 2003 for processing the recommendations in the report of Second National Commission on Labour. The Minister of State for Labour Shri Ashok Pradhan stated this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today (keralamontor.com)

LEGISLATION ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT

LOK SABHA

No proposal has yet been received by the Government in respect of the manual by women for women from the Human Rights Network or its partner organization, Adhikar. However, according to information received from the National Commission for women, a draft Bill entitled "Sexual Harassment at Work Place" has been placed on the Commission’s website, eliciting opinions/suggestions on the Bill. This information was given by the Union Minister of Law and Justice, Shri K. Jana Krishnamurthi in a written reply to a question from Shri Dalpat Singh Parste in the Lok Sabha today.(keralamontor.com)

TWELVE DD STUDIOS BEING SET UP

Twelve studio projects of Doordarshan are presently under implementation in the country. These studio projects are expected to be completed/commissioned, in phases, during the next three years. The Projects are: Calicut(Kerala), Patiala(Punjab), Gangtok(Sikkim), Warangal(Andhra Pradesh), Rajouri(J&K), Coimbatore(Tamil Nadu), Madurai(Tamil Nadu), Delhi(DD Bhawan Phase II), Dehradun(Permanent set up) (Uttaranchal), Gorakhpur(Permanent set up) (Uttar Pradesh), Ranchi (Augmentation) (Jharkhand) and Raipur(Augmentation) (Chattisgarh). This was stated by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Smt. Sushma Swaraj in a written reply to Shri Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi in Lok Sabha today.

DEFAULTING PRODUCERS NOT GIVEN FRESH DD PROGRAMMES

Doordarshan is not allotting any fresh programmes to any defaulting agencies/producers. Agencies and producers who have outstandings, have been asked to follow a payment plan to wipe off the arrears. Defaulting agencies are allowed to run their programmes only on advance payment. Legal action has also been taken against defaulting agencies. The bills of Rs 363.51 crore, relating to year 1997-98 to 2000-2001 were outstanding as on August, 2001. This information was given by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Smt. Sushma Swaraj in a written answer to Shri Ramji Manjhi in Lok Sabha today.

RS 5130 CRORE 10th PLAN OUTLAY FOR I & B

The 10th Plan Outlay of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has a quantative jump of Rs 2287 crores as compared to the 9th Plan. The 10th Plan outlay in respect of Ministry of I&B is Rs 5130 Crore(Direct Budgetary Support: Rs. 2380 Crore + Internal & Extra budgetary Resources: Rs. 2750 Crore). As compared to this, the 9th Plan Outlay was Rs. 2843.05 Crore (Direct Budgetary Support: Rs. 680.05 Crore + internal & Extra Budgetary Support: Rs. 2163.00 Crore). This was stated by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Smt. Sushma Swaraj in a written reply to Shri Iqbal Ahmed Saradgi in Lok Sabha today.

.AMENDMENT IN PEOPLE’S REPRESENTATION ACT

LOK SABHA

Section 4 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 contains qualifications for membership of the House of the People. General rule in this regard, except with certain modifications in respect of the autonomous districts of Assam, Lakshadweep and Sikkim, is that a person to be qualified to be chosen to fill a seat in the House of the People, must be an elector for any Parliamentary constituency. Further, the qualification applies equally in the case of the candidates contesting for the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes seats. As such, the Government does not consider it appropriate to bring any amendment with regard to the Kokrajhar (ST) Parliamentary constituency. This information was given by the Union Minister of Law and Justice, Shri K. Jana Krishnamurthi in a written reply to a question from Shri Sansuma Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary in the Lok Sabha today. (keralamonitor.com)