Cabinet decides to do away with graduation condition for MPs

saathi · Aug 8th, 2009, 03:07 am

Quote:

ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: The federal cabinet decided on Wednesday to do away with the condition of bachelor’s degree for candidates for the Senate and the national and provincial assemblies, in line with the Supreme Court judgment of April 21 last year.

Briefing reporters after a cabinet meeting, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said Pakistan was the only country to have such a condition in a democratic dispensation.

The cabinet condemned the Gojra incident and expressed solidarity with the Christian community over the loss of life and property. It praised the efforts of the minorities minister for easing the crisis.

It stressed the need for promoting inter-faith harmony and asked the interior ministry to take steps to avoid such incidents in future.

The cabinet expressed concerns over reports of corruption and decided to come up with an effective response through the media after investigations.

It set up a committee headed by Finance Adviser Shaukat Tarin to formulate a report for ensuring merit and transparency in appointments.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani briefed the cabinet on his meeting with the four chief ministers, the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the chief executive of the Northern Areas on law and order situation and austerity measures.

The cabinet ratified the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee meetings held on July 14 and 28, including the one envisaging revision of the Kandanwari Gas Price Agreement under which the marker price was capped at $365 per ton of high sulphur furnace oil.The decisions included incentives for introducing ethanol-10 blended fuel and petroleum levy at the reduced rate of Rs8.5 per litre on the component.

The cabinet approved deferment of deduction of six per cent withholding tax on advance payment to rental power projects.

It approved extension of the government’s guarantee amounting to Rs3 billion for the Karachi Electric Supply Company’s financial improvement plan for one year.

Extension of the period for calculation of the internal rate of return was allowed for private hydropower projects launched under the 1995 power policy that included the New Bong and Rajdhani projects.

The AJK government was advised to extend the validity of the Letter of Support for the New Bong Hydropower Project up to Oct 31 this year and for Rajdhani project up to June 30, 2010.

The cabinet allowed the finance ministry to begin consultation for drafting the ‘Netting of Financial Contract Bill 2009’.

It constituted a committee to look into matters concerning the Etisalat on issuance of a Long Distance International Licence to the China Mobile Pakistan and 3G spectrum auctions.

Keeping in view the feat of the environment ministry of setting the world record of tree plantation in a day, the cabinet approved that Aug 18 would be observed as the Tree Plantation Day.

The cabinet approved two memorandums of understanding with Iran for promoting trade. It also approved in principle draft MoUs with Libya and France for strengthening relations with them.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/...on-for-mps-689

you can be a matric pass and put yourself for candidacy for national or provincial assemblies . no reason was given as to why this was passed , other than the fact that not many people can afford to go to college with their semester fees and obviously the rich kids being the spoiled brats they are , will get a chance to shine in pakistan .