Heading for general elections in about 100 days from now, the Government on Thursday showed its eagerness to resolve key policy issues, including allowing Reliance Industries to benefit from higher gas prices, Coal India Ltd to extract coal bed methane, and give relief to sugar millers.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry proposal to allow RIL to sell KG-D6 block gas at the new price effective April 2014. It also decided against putting any cap/floor price on the gas rates and to maintain the gas price formula approved earlier.

RIL can now get the benefit of the revised gas price in return for a bank guarantee for the unmet supply commitment from its KG-D6 block.

Other decisions In another major decision, the CCEA also allowed Coal India to explore coal bed methane (a form of gas found in coal beds) at its existing mines. This brings to an end the year-long dispute between the Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Coal on simultaneous mining of coal and CBM.

Till now, India did not have a policy regime for simultaneous extraction of CBM and coal. But it did have a CBM policy, wherein the Petroleum Ministry auctions these blocks.

Taking a more political decision, the CCEA also approved Rs 6,600-crore interest-free loans to the beleaguered sugar mills to ease their cane payment burden. It also approved export of sugar without any quantitative restrictions.

The Cabinet has given its approval for India’s stand at the WTO ministerial meet at Bali and the India-ASEAN Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.

The Cabinet also decided to expedite the process of taking a decision on the demand for including the Jat community in the Other Backward Class (OBC) list. The Cabinet has asked the National Commission for Backward Communities to submit its recommendation on the issue at the earliest.

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