India's cabinet approved funds for a census and population survey to be conducted next year, amid fears that the database could be used to build a controversial citizens register, against which there have been widespread protests. The government approved 87.54-billion rupees ($1.23-billion) for conducting the census and 39.41-billion rupees for updating the National Population Register(NPR), Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

The Union-cabinet approved Labour-Code on Industrial-Relations 2019, allowing companies to hire-workers on fixed-term contract of any duration. The code has retained threshold on the worker-count at 100 for prior-government approval before retrenchment, but it has a provision for changing 'such number-of-employees' through notification. Fixed-term-employment means a worker can be hired for any duration, three-months or six-months or a year depending on season and orders.

The Union-Cabinet is likely to consider on Wednesday a bill which seeks to define transgenders and prohibit discrimination against them. Passage of the Transgender Persons Bill, which aims at empowering the community by defining and protecting their rights, is one of the priorities of the Social Justice and Empowerment ministry in the first 100-days agenda of the second-term of th Modi government, an-official-source said.