Thursday, August 11 2005 22:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet tonight (Aug 11, 2005) cleared the ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, rooted for strongly by Left parties propping up the Congress-led UPA (United Progressive Alliance) Government and it will be introduced in Parliament on Tuesday (Aug 16, 2005).

Information and Broadcasting Minister S Jaipal Reddy told reporters that the cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, cleared amendments to the 2004 bill. "It will be introduced in Parliament on Tuesday and sought to be passed in the Monsoon session itself".

Reddy, however, refused to divulge the salient features of the legislation in view of the ongoing Parliament session.

The Bill was referred to the Standing Committee and later to a Group of Ministers.

The Left parties had been pressing for expeditious enactment of the proposed law to guarantee a minimum 100 days employment to rural youth, saying it was a part of the commitments made in the Common Minimum Programme of UPA Government.

The original National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill was estimated to entail a cash outgo of Rs 150,000 crore from state exchequer.