During Friday’s session of Parliament, MPs discussed the second review for the Law on Single Mothers and Mother’s Social Protection submitted by the Cabinet. The bill states that the government will provide pregnant women with monthly welfare of 40,000 MNT starting at the fifth month mark until birth, nursing women taking care of children between the ages of zero to three are to receive a monthly welfare of 50,000 MNT, families with twin children up to the age of four are to receive a one-off welfare allowance of one million MNT, and single mothers with three children or more are to receive a seasonal welfare of 240,000 MNT. During the session, Minister of Labor and Social Protection N.Nomtoibayar stated that the government is working to grant soft loans to single mothers to provide them with work placements. MP O.Baasankhuu noted that instead of distributing state welfare to all single mothers with children between the ages of zero to three, he proposed granting welfare to nursing widows only. He reasoned that if the government distributes its welfare to all single mothers, young people will not formally get married in order to receive the government welfare or they will cheat the government by divorcing on purpose. 71.4 percent of MPs who attended the session supported the bill and it was submitted to the Standing Committee on Social Policy, Education, Culture and Science for final review. During the parliamentary session, MPs reviewed proposed changes to Ulaanbaatar's legal status. The authors of the amendments to the capital’s legal status believe that the new changes will help deal with many challenges facing Ulaanbaatar, such as air pollution and dwindling water resources. The amendments will also facilitate better residents’ participation in the capital’s decision making, improve governance structure, and increase green construction. MP B.Batzorig in charge of the proposed amendments stated that a working group is studying to split Bayanzurkh and Songinokhairkhan districts as they have large populations compared to other districts to improve public services for Ulaanbaatar residents. B.Batzorig noted that Ulaanbaatar has more than 800 buildings that do not meet standards. He proposed a re-planning of Ulaanbaatar and reported that tenders for 78 new construction projects in 12 different locations have been announced. Parliament supported further discussion of the proposed bill, which will be submitted to standing committees for preparation for further parliamentary review.