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Mahajan promises right to information by next session

Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan on Wednesday said the Right to Information Bill would be introduced in the next session of Parliament.

A draft was almost ready. In view of the consensus on it among political parties, he hoped it would be passed in the same session.

Speaking to the media in Nagpur, Mahajan said he was pained over the differences in the Sangh Parivar over economic issues. The condition of the ordinary members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and its allied organisations had become like that of a child benumbed by quarrels among his parents, he remarked.

He admitted that the government should have taken the BJP into confidence before introducing the Insurance Authority Bill and the Patents Bill. It was a mistake and the party had accepted the amends made by the government.

However, Mahajan justified foreign participation in the insurance sector, saying that competition was needed, as it would spur Indian entrepreneurs on.

As for the Patents Bill, he said the present government had no option but fulfil its predecessor's commitment to the Word Trade Organisation.

He reiterated that there was no ban on Fire, now pending with the Censor Board, but said any opposition to the film must be in a dignified and peaceful manner. He was critical of those applying double standards in pleading for freedom of expression.

Mahajan also referred to the film Satya, about the Bombay underworld. Though it seemed the producer was propagating recruitment of gangsters in the police force, the Maharashtra government had exempted it from entertainment tax, he remarked.

UNI

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