Photo Credit: http://telegrafist.org

1. Back to piracy

The parliament is expected to consider the public petition against the anti-pirate legislation adopted earlier this summer.

The online bid supported by 100,000 people calls on MPs to scrap or review the anti-pirate law.

It will first come under the microscope of a special group chaired by the Open Government Liaison Minister Mikhail Abyzov.

The law which took effect on August 1 has encountered opposition among many industry leaders like Mail.ru Group which say it could pose a threat to internet freedoms.

2. Official luxury

United Russia’s Alexey Zhuravlev has drafted a bill that would ban regional officials from purchasing executive-class cars at the expense of the budget.

Of course, they would still retain the right to buy one for their personal needs, says the MP, who is also part of the Russian Popular Front, a new political movement set up by the Kremlin to distance itself from the United Russia Party.

Zhuravlev has put the limit to RUR 1,000,000.

The campaign to make officials use cheap cars assembled in Russia has been going on in Russia for more than a decade now but without much success.

Many MPs and officials claim it’s much more efficient to use premium class cars due to their reliability.

3. Maternity benefits

The State Duma has been up in arms over the government’s proposals to curtail the maternity benefit program that helped many Russian families get a home.

The program has done its job and can be scrapped while the funds could be more efficiently used for other family-related programs, says tge report drafted by a panel of experts for the Finance Ministry.

The parliament has vehemently condemned the proposal, insisting that the program has been a game-changer, helping the country to turn the tide on the demographic situation.

According to it, any family who bears a second child is entitled to a maternity certificate whose worth is adjusted to inflation. This year it would give RUR 408,000 to families who want to improve their housing conditions or spend the funds on children’s education.