Bill races against Monsoon session

First, nationwide agitations put off HRD minister Arjun Singh’s OBC quota Bill till the Monsoon session.

First, nationwide agitations put off HRD minister Arjun Singh’s OBC quota Bill till the Monsoon session. Now, Oversight Committee chairman Veerappa Moily has said the Bill should be introduced only after the committee submits its report. The Monsoon session will end by then.

In a four-page note circulated to the committee members on June 8, Moily put forward the suggestion: ‘‘The government is planning to introducing (sic) a Bill in the Monsoon session of the Parliament, providing for 27 pc reservation to OBCs. Ideally, the Bill should be introduced only after the Oversight Committee submits its report by 31st August 2006, so that greater clarity is brought to bear upon the issues.’’

However, he adds: ‘‘There is also the argument that if the Bill is not introduced in the monsoon session, it might be too late. That being the case, one could think of the Oversight Committee submitting an interim report’’.

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The note also says that it is important to define which institutes of higher learning would be covered by the quota. Besides institutes of excellence (IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, JIPMER (Pondicherry) and PGI (Chandigarh)), it also lists Central universities, other educational institutes of the Central government and deemed universities.

Regarding private institutions, it says, ‘‘it needs to be decided whether they include unaided private educational institutions. If they do, the problem would be that the government will not be in a position to fund the provision of additional infrastructure that is required for increasing the availability of seats, as by definition, these institutions are unaided…On the flip side…the unaided private institutions may take the plea that they are not obligated even to provide reservations for SC/STs.’’

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the designation gives law enforcement “enhanced powers to combat a group that has instilled fear through violence and intimidation”.

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