BREAKING NEWS:- MODI SARKAR DWARA SAVARANO NE 10% ANAMAT AAPVANO NO NIRNAY RAJYA SABHA MA PASS

MODI SARKAR DWARA SAVARANO NE 10% ANAMAT AAPVANO NO NIRNAY.

BREAKING NEWS:- MODI SARKAR DWARA SAVARANO NE 10% ANAMAT AAPVANO NO NIRNAY.

Central government to increase reservations from 50% to 60%. Additional 10% to be given to Economically Backward class

Lok Sabha on Tuesday late night has passed the 124th Constitutional Amendment Bill seeking to provide a maximum of 10 percent reservation in employment and education for the economically weaker among the general category. This will be in addition to the quota already provided to the socially and educationally backward classes, the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes.

Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Thawar Chand Gehlot has introduced the bill in Lok Sabha which was cleared by majority of the members (319) voting for it, and four against, underlining the cross-party support for the bill. The Rajya Sabha will take it up on Wednesday.

However, the Opposition questioned the timing and haste with which the government introduced the Bill, on the last day of the winter session.

Replying to an over four and half hour debate, social justice minister TC Gehlot sought to allay doubts raised by opposition members about the legislation’s fate if challenged in the Supreme Court, saying he can say with confidence that the court will accept it. “Your doubts are unfounded. Put them to rest,” he said.

Gehlot said the bill is in line with PM Modi’s assertion when he assumed power in 2014 that his government would be devoted to the cause of the poor and work for ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’.

Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were present in the House when the bill was passed.

The PM hailed the passing of the bill in the House as "landmark moment" in the nation's history. "We are resolutely committed to the principle of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas.’ It is our endeavour to ensure that every poor person, irrespective of caste or creed gets to lead a life of dignity, and gets access to all possible opportunities," the PM tweeted after the passage of the bill.

The bill which gives shape to what Narasimha Rao government proposed 28 years ago provides reservation for the economically weaker sections of the society in higher educational institutions, including private institutions irrespective of being aided or unaided by the state.

Intervening during the discussion in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: “I request all to support the motion. The quota Bill is aimed at equality for all.” He said the manifestos of most parties promised quotas for the economically weaker sections, and “their commitment to their promise is put to test today.” “The Congress, in its 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto, had promised reservation for the economically weaker sections,” he said.

Taking a dig at the opposition, Mr. Jaitley said this “jumla (a term BJP’s opponents have used for this bill)” was a part of their promises. He explained that though several attempts have been made to give reservation to the economically backward, it was shot down by the SC as the right process was not adopted. Jaitley told Congress’ KV Thomas that his apprehension of this bill not getting passed before the term of the present Lok Sabha ended was misplaced.

Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ramvilas Paswan said: “The country is more important than caste” and demanded that reservation be extended to the private sector and juridical service. “People who were opposing reservation are now part of this 10% reservation,” he said. “So now they will not oppose reservation.” He said people who were rich during British colonial rule were possibly poor now.

However, the Samajwadi Party made a strong allegation on the ruling government for burying the data on caste census and thereby asked them to conduct one.

“We have been pressing for caste census, we know that report is ready because backwards are more than 60%. Based on their population give up to 100% reservation,” said Dharmendra Yadav from the SP.

Bhartruhari Mahtab of Biju Janata Dal pointed out flaws in the bill and stated that the economic condition may fluctuate.

“Someone who was rich yesterday may be poor today,” said the BJD while supporting the bill.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the Trinamool Congress asked why the government did not take up the women reservation Bill with the same priority. This Bill was not only about jobs but also about misleading the youth with false hopes and fake dreams, he said. “There are over 85,000 vacancies in the railways and 25 million people have applied for them,” he noted.

Shiv Sena member Anandrao Adsul said his party backed the Bill, though the Centre’s decision to introduce it at the fag end of its term raised doubts. “This Bill proves that caste-based and economic exploitations are different and not linked,”

TRS EXTENDS SUPPORT: The TRS, while supporting the bill, questioned as to who was the economically weaker section and pinned the blame on successive governments for depriving the population of infrastructure which would enable them to achieve economic growth and that all the opportunity was lost as the BJP and the Congress attempted to settle scores with each other. The TRS MP Jithender Reddy said the Centre was opposed to the Telangana government’s move to give reservation for the economically backward Muslims.

Asaduddin Owaisi on the other hand pointed out that the Constitution does not recognise economic backwardness as criterion for reservation.

“This bill is a fraud on the constitution. It’s an insult to BR Ambedkar. The original purpose of reservation was to give social justice and remove social and educational backwardness. The constitution does not recognize economically weaker section. Has the ‘janeudharis’ (Brahmins) ever suffered police beatings, false cases, etcc- unfortunately its only on Dalits, SC, ST. Where is the empirical evidence?” questioned the AIMIM leader.

WHAT IS IN THE BILL:

The 10% reservation will be over and above the 50% stipulated by the Supreme Court and is expected to benefit a huge section of upper castes, including Brahmins, Rajputs (Thakurs), Jats, Marathas and Bhumihars and trading castes like Kapus and Kammas. The economically deprived among the poor in the other religions will also benefit.

The new insertion in Article 15 which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, sex or religion is the clause (6) which states that apart from socially and educationally backward classes, SCs and STs, the economically weaker section would be given reservation of maximum 10 percent in education and public employment.

The other amendment was the insertion of Clause 6 in Article 16 which authorised the state for granting reservation to EWS in appointments or posts subject to a maximum of 10 percent.

However, the constitutional amendment bill is silent on the definition of economically weaker section and leaves it to the states to notify conditions for the same from time to time with regard to family income and other factors of economic disadvantages.

The key issues which cropped up during the debate of the bill primarily hovered around (a) how would the amendment bill stand the test the of law when the Constitution itself is silent on reservation for the economically weaker sections of the society, (b) how would this 10% reservation not violate the 50% cap as spelt out in the Indira Sawhney verdict, (c) why the government does not push for the establishment of the All India Judicial Services and include reservations in judicial selections too,(d) and lastly, why was the government not stating the empirical evidence behind ushering in such a reservation

EBC RESERVATION BILL PASSED IN RAJYASABHA

A newspaper is a serial publication containing news about current events, other informative articles about politics, sports, arts, and so on, and advertising. Events that used to take hours or days to become common knowledge in towns or in nations are fed instantaneously to consumers via radio, television, mobile phone, and the internet.