The Union Cabinet has approved ordinances on Coal Mines and Insurance Bill. This was stated by Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley during a presser on Cabinet's decision in New Delhi this afternoon. Mr Jaitley said, the Coal allocation ordinance has been re-promulgated and guidelines have been approved for allocation for power and other core sectors.

The government promulgated the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 2014, in October to facilitate coal block auctions after the Supreme Court cancelled 204 coal blocks in September this year. The Coal Mines Bill is yet to be cleared by the Parliament.

Government also approved promulgation of an Ordinance to hike Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in the insurance sector to 49 per cent from 26 percent. The legislation could not be passed in the Parliament session that ended yesterday.

Talking about the ordinance on Insurance Amendment Bill, Mr. Jaitley said, the contents of ordinance incorporate all recommendations of Select Committee. The Insurance Amendment Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha after it was cleared by the Select Committee. However, it could not be passed due to opposition's continuous uproar over the conversion issue.

Mr Jaitley said, going in for Ordinance on insurance and coal shows government's resolve that work will go on even if Parliament is disrupted. He said, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Orissa and Chattisgarh will gain the most revenue from auction of coal mines.