Keep up-to-date with all that is happening in welfare policy with this curated selection of news, published every fortnight.

Policy News

• The Central government passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that seeks to link electoral rolls to the Aadhaar database.
• The Union Cabinet raised the minimum age of marriage for girls from 18 to 21 based on the recommendations of Jaya Jaitly committee. 
• The Central government passed the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Bill, 2021, and the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2021. The bills intend to restrain unethical practices in regards to the exploitation of surrogate mothers and sex selection.
• The Union Cabinet approved the continuation of Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (Rural) for three more years till March 2024.

Covid-19 State Measures 

• The Centre announced that teenagers between the ages of 15 and 18 would be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination from 3 January 2022. Frontline and health workers and senior citizens above the age of 60 with co-morbidities on the advice of doctors will be eligible for a precaution or third dose from 10 January 2022.
• Seven states i.e. Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and the national capital, Delhi have implemented night curfews.
• According to a memorandum issued by the Union Health Ministry office, multidisciplinary central teams have been deployed in 10 states which are are reporting either an increase in number of Omicron and COVID-19 cases or a slow vaccination pace.

Other News

• The Supreme Court, reiterating the guarantee of fundamental rights irrespective of vocation, gave directions to immediately start the process of issuing voter ID cards, Aadhaar and ration cards to sex workers.
• The Punjab government, under the ‘Udaan Scheme’, will be providing free sanitary pads every month at all 27,314 Anganwadi centres across the state.
• The Joint Committee of Parliament tabled its report on the Data Protection Bill.