NEW DELHI: Amidst the opposition-created ruckus inside the parliament, the central government passed three crucial bills on Friday.

A Bill to replace the Nursing Council with the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission and the National Dental Commission Bill was passed in the parliament. A third bill allowing private sector participation in mining was also passed.

The newly passed bill also allowed commercial mining of Titanium which was met with disapproval from Kerala MPs as the decision was considered a big incentive for private companies only at the expense of the state government.

Ministry of Mines headed by Pralhad Joshi said the black sand mining process will continue to be in the public sector. Meanwhile, Kerala MP N K Premachandran pointed out the anomaly in the rule concerning Titanium which had the minister come up with assurance about formulating new rules to keep Titanium in the public sector. The minister later called for a higher-level meeting including N K Premachandran to demystify the Titanium quandary.

According to the minister, Titanium got included wrongly along with other critical minerals including Beryllium, Lithium, Niobium, Tantalum, and Zirconium. All these minerals are mined from rocks while Titanium is extracted from sands.

The Minister deliberated over the need to increase mining to satiate the ever-increasing demand in space, electronics, communications, energy, and electric battery sectors. Private companies were prohibited from mining critical minerals till now. So the rule comes as a vital boost since more companies can acquire a single exploration license through auction.

The National Dental Commission Bill seeks to repeal the Dentists Act, of 1948 and will set up the National Dental Commission (NMC). For foreign students to enroll as dentists in the country, an MBBS model national exit test will be conducted for final-year dental students. The Dental Commission will ensure quality research works in dental treatment and training including BDS.