Parliament Winter Session Today HIGHLIGHTS: The Opposition questioned the timing of quota Bill
Parliament Winter Session Today HIGHLIGHTS: The Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill, seeking to provide 10 per cent reservation to the economically weaker sections among general category, was passed in the Rajya Sabha Wednesday. The Bill, which was passed in the Lok Sabha yesterday, was cleared in the Upper House today with 165 votes.
Earlier in the day, the Opposition accused BJP of playing “politics” and questioned the timing of the quota Bill. They demanded that the Bill be sent to a select committee for scrutiny. Congress leader Anand Sharma said, “You brought the bill in haste because you had to before the Model Code of Conduct comes into force, thinking that if not 2 crore then let’s dangle a carrot in front of the public, show them another dream that Modiji made arrangements for their children’s employment.” Sharma also accused the government of not taking the Opposition into confidence. “There is no consent from the Opposition. The situation is such that there is no dialogue between the Opposition and the government.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Lok Sabha (PTI Photo)
CPI's D Raja, while protesting against the Bill, said it was brought in haste by the BJP government keeping an eye on elections. "It hasn't been scrutinised properly. . I don't think it'will stand judicial or social scrutiny in coming days," he told ANI.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the passage of the quota Bill in both the houses of the Parliament, calling it as a victory for social justice.
The Rajya Sabha passes the Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill, 2019, with 165 votes. The Bill will provide 10% reservation to the economically weaker sections among the general category in educational institutions and government jobs.
Clause 1: The adopting formula and the title of the Bill accepted by the House with 156 votes.
Voting on the Bill is underway in Rajya Sabha. The Opposition has pressed for a division on the matter and has pressed for the Bill to be sent to a select committee of the Parliament.
KC(M) leader Jose K Mani says he supports the reservation bill but questions the timing of its introduction. "I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a gimmick like demonetisation,” he says. BJP's GVL Narasimha Rao says that poor people can see a real "mahapurush", a "real mahatma" in Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The Prime Minister and the BJP government did justice to the poor section of the society in real sense,” says Rao.
TDP MP Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar says quota bill won't benefit anyone, terms it a 'political gimmick'. “This bill is not going to benefit anyone. This bill is nothing but a political gimmick, which has been brought at the fag end of the session keeping elections in mind,” the TDP MP says. Speaking on the issue, MoS Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale says he strongly supports Bill and praises BJP. “The BJP is for the Dalits, for all communities, for every religion, every caste, everyone," he says.
D Raja, CPI(M) "The Bill has been signed on Jan 7, the Draft Bill was passed on Jan 8 and on Jan 9 we are discussing it here. The intention behind this is to undermine the Constitution which has concerned many people in the country."
NCP leader Praful Patel in Rajya Sabha said that 8 lakh may not be enough for the city people but it means a lot for village people.
Satish Chandra Misra, BSP: "We demand that minorities be given separate reservation."
He further said, "This is fraud on the poor of the upper caste."
Kapil Sibal: "The Mandal Commission provision of 10% reservation for economically weaker category was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. If a nine judge bench held it unconstitutional, how can you amend the constitution?" (ANI)
Kapil Sibal further said that jobs are limited and not everybody from the OBCs and Dalits get benefit under the 27% reservation. He asked are they not entitled to get benefit under the new 10% quota.
Speaking in the Parliament, Congress veteran Kapil Sibbal said, "The government said that 10% reservation will be given to the economically poor among the general category. But did they collect any data to ascertain the percentage of OBCs and Dalits in different states?"
"I remember the Mandal Commission's report came in 1980 and it was first introduced in the Parliament in 1982. Then in 1990, it was passed. So it took 10 years to pass that Bill. And here the government is trying to pass a Bill without any data, without any report. So I would like to ask the government how did they set the 8 lakh cap for this bill?"
Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "There are people from the Brahmin and Rajput communities who are poor as well. Are we not supposed to think about them."
Ravi Shankar Prasad said in the Rajya Sabha that the country has given us the right to make and change laws in both the Houses. The only restriction is that basic structure of the Constitution should not be amended. The minister also said that the reservation does not come under the basic structure.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, DMK leader Kanimozhi asked the government if they have done any study to back the 10% quota for economically poor among general category. She also raised doubts over the urgency shown by the government to bring such an important Bill.
Supporting the Bill, Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai said there should be a mechanism to check the implementation of the Bill and eligibility criteria of the people covered under it.
Prasanna Acharya, BJD: "We thank the government for bringing this Bill. They may have brought it late but at least they brought it."
However, Acharya also said that it is practically impossible to accommodate nearly 98% of the population which is out of the purview of current reservation system within 10% quota.
TMC leader Derek o Brien said, "This bill is an acknowledgement of guilt for not creating enough jobs in the last 4 years."
"The youth of the country is asking where are the jobs. You promised 2 crore jobs, instead, you are answering with Pakodanomics."
"The government has a problem of making promises and not fulfilling it. Startup India, Digital India. This new scheme is called Cheat India."
TMC leader Derek o Brien said, "In the previous governments, 65-70 per cent bills used to get passed with scrutiny. Under this government, only 20 per cent have undergone scrutiny."
AIADMK members staged a walk-out over the quota Bill for the economically weaker sections among general category, saying that the Bill will not be beneficial for the people of Tamil Nadu.
In the Rajya Sabha, Congress leader Anand Sharma said, "The government promised to give 2 crore jobs every year in 2014. Forget about generating jobs, more than 1 crore people lost their jobs in the year 2018 itself."
"You brought the bill in haste because you had to before the Model Code of Conduct comes into force, thinking that if not 2 crores then let's dangle a carrot in front of the public, show them another dream that Modiji made arrangements for their children's employment."
"But the question is how many jobs are there. 34 lakh jobs are there in the central government and they have managed to create only 95,000."
Quoting PIB data, Sharma said that jobs are getting lesser in the Public Sector Units (PSUs).
"In the PSUs of the country, in 2016 17 the jobs have come down from 11.85 lakhs to 11.31 lakhs. 54,000 jobs were lost in 2017. 43,000 lost in 2018. So you created 95k jobs and lost 97k jobs," Sharma said.
"This 10% reservation covers 98% people of the country. Before coming to the session, I talked to a lot of economists and they told me that going by the current numbers, it would take 800 years to fulfill this promise."
Prabhat Jha, BJP leader attacked Rahul Gandhi over Rafale. In rebuttal Congress leader Anand Sharma said that Gandhi is not in Rajya Sabha and the comment should be expunged. Continuing his remarks, Prabhat Jha said, "Every party's manifesto carries a promise of reservation for poor. Modi is India's first prime minister who not only completed his promise but also what you wrote in your manifesto. Every member in the House wants Quota Bill to be passed."
MoS Vijay Goel addresses the House. "Few Opposition members had specifically requested the Home Minister to make a statement on the protests in Northeast. We request the Opposition to raise their queries when the Citizenship Bill is tabled in the House."
Singh's statement in the House came after Opposition's demands. "We are aware of the concerns over the Bill and our government will strive to protect the identity of the people of Assam. We will look into the issues of the Bodo community. We want a peaceful situation in the Northeast and are in constant touch with the state governments, We will strive to protect the identity and culture of the Northeast and will take steps to address all concerns."
Rajnath Singh addresses Rajya Sabha over protests in Northeast over the Citizenship Amendment Bill. "The situation is very peaceful today. We have brought this bill so that the minority immigrants from our neighbouring countries can live peacefully. They were being targeted because of their religion. We are aware of the concerns in the Northeast and would like to dispel the rumours over the Bill. This is not for Assam but for such immigrants across the country. Those affected by religious persecution can avail the citizenship across the country."
Rajya Sabha resumes. Earlier, quota Bill was tabled in the House. The Opposition has expressed its reservations and wants the Bill to be sent to a select committee
House adjourned till 2pm
Opposition members gather in the well of the House even as Union Minister Thaver Chand Gehlot is addressing the House. The Opposition claims that the government did not consult them over the bill and demand that it should be first sent to a select committee. During his address, Gehlot said the bill does not bypass any judicial process. "The SC's 50 per cent limit is for caste-based reservation. The new bill will empower the people from the economically weaker sections in the general category and will help in reducing the economic inequality"
Addressing a rally in Solapur, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoped that quota Bill passes the Rajya Sabha test and that the House will respect ‘public opinion’ . "Yesterday late night, a historic bill was passed in Lok Sabha. By passing the bill regarding 10% reservation being granted to the economically weaker section in the general category, our principle of ‘Sabka sath sabka vikas’ has been further strengthened." Read more
Congress leader Anand Sharma accused BJP of playing "politics" and "waking up from a deep slumber." D Raja on quota bill said: "The legislation of this nature will have serious implications. It should go to the Select Committee and the House should first discuss that."
Vijay Goyal said both the BJP and the Opposition have decided to hold an 8-hour long debate to discuss quota Bill.
Congress leader Madhusudhan Mistry said the Bill is not complete and that the government cannot expect the voting on the day when it is introducing it in Rajya Sabha.
Responding, MoS Vijay Goyal said, "The Opposition especially Congress is bringing technical issues and wasting the Session's time. This is an indirect protest. This is despite the fact that the Bill was passed in Lok Sabha and Prime Minister Modi had himself thanked the Opposition for their cooperation."
Quota Bill tabled in Rajya Sabha. Union Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment Thaawarchand Gehlot introduced the Bill amid protest by Opposition. The bill seeks to provide 10 per cent reservation in jobs and educational institutions to the economically weaker sections in the general category.
Rajya Sabha resumes
Ruckus in Rajya Sabha as Opposition targets government over one-day extension of the House. Members have gathered in the well. House adjourned till 12pm
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley address the House. "Country expects the House to function. As per normal working days, we should have been working, on most of them, the House stood adjourned. There is one extra day to consider legislation. The House should function when key bills are to be taken up."
"Northeast is on fire. Rajnath Singh should address the House and let the people know that the Parliament is concerned about northeastern states. Serious situation in Northeast," Anand Sharma said amid the chorus of 'Save Northeast, Save India'
Congress leader Anand Sharma addresses the House. "The government has the authority to bring Bills. We are not questioning it. But the extension was done without our knowledge or no discussions were held with the business advisory committee. The way the House proceedings were extended without the consent of the opposition parties was not right. The situation now is such that there is no dialogue between the opposition and government. It is the government's duty to talk to Opposition, run the House. The government said it is ready for Rafale debate but brings up other issues. It has become the habit of the government to bypass the judicial scrutiny on sensitive issues. No sense of the House was taken for the extension."
Mos Vijay Goel questioned the Opposition's protest. Addressing the House he said the members should be concerned that many days in the Session were wasted due to protests. "Now that the government has an important Bill, we would request everyone to cooperate. All members are with the government on the quota Bill. It is the government's and Chair's prerogative that the proceedings in the House can be extended in case of essential discussions."
The Opposition protests against the extension of Rajya Sabha by a day. They also raised objection that there was no formal announcement of the extension before Deputy Chairman Harivansh announced that the House would meet again on Wednesday morning. The leaders questioned why the Chairman made no formal announcement
On Tuesday during a meeting with Chairman Venkaiah Naidu, Opposition leaders said they would have to leave for their respective states because of prior commitments since the session was scheduled only till January 8. They told him that the atmosphere in the House is not conducive to transacting legislative business.
Rajya Sabha proceedings begin
On Tuesday, Opposition MPs sat in Rajya Sabha to protest against the government’s “unilateral” decision to extend the sittings of the Upper House for one more day. They also held a mock Parliament to criticise the government and remind it of its obligations, before marching out to hold a protest in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Opposition leaders said that they were informed about the extension only on Tuesday morning at the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee. They also raised objection that there was no formal announcement of the extension before Deputy Chairman Harivansh announced that the House would meet again on Wednesday morning.
During the mock Parliament, sources said, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said it was unprecedented in the history of Parliament for an extension to be announced without telling the Opposition. Trinamool MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy, according to sources, said when a sense of the House is sought for even an hour’s extension of business then how could that be bypassed for a day’s time.
MoS (Parliamentary Affairs) Vijay Goel said it was the Chairman’s decision to extend the session and the Deputy Chairman had merely conveyed it, but the explanation failed to cut ice. Read more
In the Lok Sabha, the government argued that the Bill addresses the need to bring the economically weaker to the mainstream but the Opposition alleged that it is being pushed through with an eye on the elections this year. Barring AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi and IUML’s E T Mohammed Basheer, who spoke against the Bill — P K Kunhalikutty is the other IUML MP in the House — all the other members present extended their support.
In the Lok Sabha, nearly 30 members spoke on the Bill, with Gehlot describing the government’s move as a “historic decision”. He argued that there was a need to bring the economically weaker to the mainstream and expressed confidence that the Bill would clear judicial scrutiny if challenged in courts. Read more
Welcome to the live blog. Proceedings in Rajya Sabha were extended by a day amid Centre's push for the quota Bill and the Triple Talaq Bill. Follow this space to track the latest developments in Upper House