On Cabinet agenda today: Additional aid for Kosi victims

The Union Cabinet will meet on Thursday to discuss a proposal,moved by the Home Ministry,to sanction additional financial assistance...

The Union Cabinet will meet on Thursday to discuss a proposal,moved by the Home Ministry,to sanction additional financial assistance to Bihar for Kosi flood relief over and above the norms of the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and National Calamity and Contingency Fund (NCCF).

The proposal comes in the backdrop of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumars demand for putting Rs 1,000 crore Kosi relief amount outside the ambit of these funds. Sources said the proposal might also lead to additional funds for the state. The issue had sparked off a war of words between the Centre and Bihar before the Lok Sabha elections when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had called up the Bihar CM to assure him a re-look into the controversy over the Centres reported demand for refund of Rs 1,000 crore it gave to Bihar for relief to Kosi flood victims.

The controversy over the relief money started after a letter dated April 27 from the Disaster Management Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs sought recovery of Rs 1,000 crore ad hoc grant made to the state to battle the Kosi floods of 2008. Citing norms and guidelines for expenditure and opening balance of the states CRF as cited by the State Accountant General,the letter concluded that the net outgo from the NCCF will be nil and the entire amount of Rs 1,000 crore released from NCCF on an account basis is required to be recovered.

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The Bihar government went public with it and charged the Centre with doing injustice to the state. Scrutiny thereafter,as claimed by the state government,showed that the state AGs office was to be blamed for giving wrong opening balance figures of the states CRF as on April 1,2008. Thereafter,Bihar Chief Secretary R J M Pillai had sent a letter to the Centre clarifying that the state governments CRF balance on April 1,2008,was minus Rs 820 crore and not Rs 906.24 crore as was wrongly worked by the state AG office.

The Cabinet is also expected to discuss a national policy on HIV/AIDS,mooted by the Union Health Ministry,and a proposal to create a post of secretary for health research in the Union Health Ministry.

Besides,the Cabinet will deliberate on MoUs on renewable energy with Chile and on biofuels with the US.

INDIANS IN SWITZERLAND TO BE EXEMPT FROM SOCIAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTION

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New Delhi: Indian nationals working in Switzerland on short-term contracts would soon be exempted from making any social security contribution in that country as the two nations are set to sign an agreement to this effect.

The Union Cabinet,in its meeting on Thursday,is likely to give the go ahead for the Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry to sign the social security agreement with Switzerland.

Under the pact,Indians working in Switzerland would be exempted from making social security contributions to the Government there while the same benefit would be extended to Swiss nationals taking up jobs in India. The agreement would do away with the system of workers making double security payments. The agreement is the fourth in a series of such pacts signed by the Overseas Ministry recently. India has already signed similar agreements with Belgium,France and The Netherlands and is negotiating such pacts with Norway,Sweden,Czechoslovakia,Spain and the US. ENS

Algerian-French artist’s work vandalised at Kochi art gallery over ‘obscenity’ allegations

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Algerian-French artist Hanan Benammar's linocut prints were vandalised by two artists at an international exhibition in Kochi. The exhibition, curated by Anushka Rajendran and Damian Christinger, was organised by the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and opened on October 18.

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