Opposition forces govt to refer bill on OBC body to Rajya Sabha's select panel
NEW DELHI: The Opposition prevailed on the government to refer a bill meant to provide constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) to the Rajya Sabha's select committee.
A motion to constitute the 25-member select committee to examine the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-third Amendment) Bill, 2017, was unanimously adopted by the Rajya Sabha late on Tuesday afternoon after Opposition MPs voiced reservations over the bill that was approved by the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The committee to examine the bill will be headed by BJP member Bhupender Yadav. It has been asked to submit its report "by the last day of the first week of the next session."
The next session of Parliament will begin almost three months after the current session that ends on Wednesday.
The Union Cabinet had recently decided to grant constitutional status to NCBC. While the BJP praised the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the move, Opposition parties, particularly the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, made an issue over proposed change on ostensible apprehensions that the government was trying to "nullify" the reservation for OBCs anchored in the Mandal Commission report.
The government sought to reason that the move was to meet a long-pending demand, including petition of OBC MPs to the PM, to grant constitutional status to the NCBC. However, the Opposition stuck to its demand suggesting that the move may threaten state governments' role in finalising the list of castes to be included in the OBC category.
Though the government managed to get the legislation approved in the Lok Sabha, where it holds a handsome majority, the Opposition leveraged its numerical majority to force the government to concede for a Select Committee in the House of Elders.
The 25-member Rajya Sabha Select Committee include senior members like Sharad Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Satish Misra and Praful Patel. For Bhupender Yadav, incidentally, this is the eighth select committee — including the one on GST — that he has got to head in the last three years.
Government insiders said that while his legal background helps in dealing with the contentious provisions, the government relies upon his wider acceptance among the Opposition to forge consensus report for the select committees.
A motion to constitute the 25-member select committee to examine the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-third Amendment) Bill, 2017, was unanimously adopted by the Rajya Sabha late on Tuesday afternoon after Opposition MPs voiced reservations over the bill that was approved by the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The committee to examine the bill will be headed by BJP member Bhupender Yadav. It has been asked to submit its report "by the last day of the first week of the next session."
The next session of Parliament will begin almost three months after the current session that ends on Wednesday.
The Union Cabinet had recently decided to grant constitutional status to NCBC. While the BJP praised the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the move, Opposition parties, particularly the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, made an issue over proposed change on ostensible apprehensions that the government was trying to "nullify" the reservation for OBCs anchored in the Mandal Commission report.
The government sought to reason that the move was to meet a long-pending demand, including petition of OBC MPs to the PM, to grant constitutional status to the NCBC. However, the Opposition stuck to its demand suggesting that the move may threaten state governments' role in finalising the list of castes to be included in the OBC category.
Though the government managed to get the legislation approved in the Lok Sabha, where it holds a handsome majority, the Opposition leveraged its numerical majority to force the government to concede for a Select Committee in the House of Elders.
The 25-member Rajya Sabha Select Committee include senior members like Sharad Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Satish Misra and Praful Patel. For Bhupender Yadav, incidentally, this is the eighth select committee — including the one on GST — that he has got to head in the last three years.
Government insiders said that while his legal background helps in dealing with the contentious provisions, the government relies upon his wider acceptance among the Opposition to forge consensus report for the select committees.
