Parliament winter session HIGHLIGHTS | Nuclear, higher education reforms bills tabled in Lok Sabha

The Union government is set to introduce four key Bills in the Lok Sabha on Monday, including legislation on higher education reforms, rural employment, nuclear energy, and the repeal of outdated laws.Although the Bills were not part of Monday’s agenda, they were added later through a supplementary list of business issued in the afternoon.A bill proposing to repeal the MGNREGA and replace it with a new rural employment law – the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill, 2025 – is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha.The proposed law aims to align rural employment with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, offering a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage work each year to rural households willing to undertake unskilled manual labour. The bill has been listed in the supplementary list of business issued on Monday.The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Bill, 2025 (SHANTI) is also expected to be introduced in the Lower House, which is being viewed as a major policy shift in India’s atomic energy sector.The bill seeks to “promote and regulate the safe, secure, and responsible use of nuclear energy and nuclear technologies in India, with the overarching objective of leveraging nuclear science for public welfare and national development.”The government is also set to table the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The bill is a comprehensive legislative proposal aimed at significantly reforming India’s insurance sector.The Bill proposes amendments to three core pieces of legislation: the Insurance Act, 1938, the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956, and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999. The proposed amendments are designed to accelerate growth, enhance policyholder protection, and bring greater transparency and ease of business to the industry. The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, which seeks to replace the UGC, AICTE and NCTE with an apex umbrella body, is expected to be introduced in the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament this week.The Bill proposes the creation of the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan, which will have three councils to streamline governance and oversight in India’s higher education sector.The legislation, earlier known as the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Bill, is aligned with recommendations of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and is expected to be tabled during the current session. The Union Cabinet approved the HECI Bill, now renamed the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan, on Friday.Read the full story here



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