Ahead of Lok Sabha election 2019, PM Narendra Modi to hold last cabinet meeting today

The Modi government is likely to take several important decisions today.

New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2019, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government will hold the last Union Cabinet meeting on Thursday. The meeting will take place at Prime Minister‘s official residence 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, according to sources.

An ordinance to restore the 200-point roster system of reservation mechanism for faculties in universities is likely to be taken up during the meeting.

Before the announcement of dates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls by the Election Commission, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also likely to finalise his stand on whether to issue an ordinance to overturn the January 22 order of the Supreme Court which had dismissed the Centre’s challenge against the Allahabad High Court verdict on filling the vacant SC/ST teachers posts institution-wise, instead of fixing quotas department-wise.

Furthermore, the Cabinet is also expected to approve an additional allocation of about Rs 4,000 crore to fund implementation of the 10 percent quota for the economically weaker section (EWS) in higher education institutes. 

 “Nearly 25 per cent seats will be added to ensure that the reservation does not disturb the existing quota for SC, ST and other categories,” HRD minister Prakash Javadekar had said.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal will also hold a marathon meeting of senior officials to prepare a road map for the future of the national transporter. Goyal will conduct a final assessment of the work done by the ministry over the last five years.

The Railway Minister will also interact with all members of the Railway Board, director generals, divisional railway managers, general managers, heads of railway PSUs and senior officers to be posted as Divisional Railway Manager (DRMs) in the near future.

Later today, PM Modi is also scheduled to flag off the 13.5-kilometre phase of the Nagpur Metro through video-conferencing today. 

The metro will, however, be opened for commuters on March 8. The rides on the metro on its first day of operation will be free for commuters. The Nagpur Metro consists of two corridors with a total length of 38 kilometres.