New Delhi, October 8
Patients in public hospitals will soon have access to life-saving plasma derivatives at affordable process. The union cabinet today cleared the proposal of the Health Ministry to set up a plasma fractionation centre that would process plasma to make components like albumin, gammoglobulin and prothrombin used in the treatment of life-threatening diseases.

The centre will come up under the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP III) and will cost about Rs 250 crore. At the end of a cabinet meeting, Chidambaram said the location of the centre was yet to be finalised . “It would be in a metro,” Chidambaram said. The direct impact of the setting up the centre would be reduced imports of plasma derivatives and better access of poor people to these derivatives. The proposed centre will process 1.5 lakh litre of plasma annually, and will process plasma to make a range of life-saving derivatives.

The cabinet also cleared a Bill to carry out Amendment to Section 20 of the Indian Trust Act, 1882, which relates to investment of trust money.

In accordance with this Section, where the trust property consists of money and cannot be applied immediately or at an early date to the purpose of the trust, the trustee is bound (subject to any direction contained in the instruments of trust) to invest the money in securities enumerated in clauses (a) to (f) of that Section.

Briefing mediapersons about the Cabinet meeting, P. Chidambaram said this section had obsolete provisions such as those relating to promissory notes, debentures, stock and other securities of the UK and Ireland, bonds, debentures and annuities charged or secured by Parliament of the UK.

New Delhi, October 8
The union cabinet today affected some mid-term modifications in its September 29, 2006 rehabilitation package for farmers in suicide-prone districts of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Briefing mediapersons after a meeting of the cabinet, finance minister P. Chidambaram said the improvements in the package would give it a sharper edge and further improve its effectiveness.

The modifications also include adoption of ‘cafeteria approach’ for participatory watershed development programmes where the state government, with permission from the agricultural ministry have the flexibility to adopt either models circulated by the NABARD or Sujatra model of the programme; The rehabilitation package for 31 identified districts involves a total amount of Rs 16,978.69 crore consisting of Rs 10,579.43 crore as subsidy and Rs 6,399.26 crore as loan. — UNI