Parliament approves bill to restore states’ rights to prepare their own list of OBCs for reservation

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parl New Delhi, Aug 12,2021: The Bill restoring rights of states to have their own list of OBCs on Wednesday got Parliamentary approval with Rajya Sabha passing the proposed legislation unanimously.

Unlike other days of the Monsoon session when Opposition parties continued their protests and frequently disrupted the proceedings, they all came together to support the Constitution (one hundred and Twenty-seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021 and pass it.

Many members of the Opposition parties, however, demanded to push the 50 per cent ceiling in reservation to ensure the OBC community actually benefited from the Constitutional amendment. They also pressed for carrying out caste-based census.

Moving the Bill for consideration of the House, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar Singh said that the bill will reinstate the powers of states to have their own list of OBCs and undo the Supreme Court order on it.

The bill was warranted following a Supreme Court order in May saying that only the central government can prepare the OBC list.

The Minister said that the Bill was necessitated as the Supreme Court had struck down the power of the state to have their own list of OBCs while interpreting the law.

“The Bill has been brought to sufficiently clarify that (states having right to prepare their own OBC list). If states do not have the right to have their own list of OBCs, 671 communities who have been part of the List will not get the benefits of reservation in jobs and educational institutions,” the Minister said.

As per statement of objects and reasons of the Bill, it seeks to adequately clarify that the State Government and Union territories are empowered to prepare and maintain their own State List/ Union territory List of socially and educationally backward classes (commonly known as the Other Backward Classes).

The Minister also noted the recent decision of the government allowing 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in medical and dental colleges ensuring 4,000 additional seats for them to drive home the point that the ruling party cared for the community.

Participating in the discussion on the Bill, senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi supported the bill but asked the government why it was silent on the caste-based census.

He said that a census was needed to assess the actual ground situation. Taking on the government, Singhvi said that the suggestion to bring more clarity on the issue was ignored in a House panel and now the mistake was being corrected.

Speaking on the bill, TMC MP Derek O’Brien took aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and termed the government as ‘incompetent’ in implementing legislation such as GST. He also demanded a caste-based census.

“Why no caste-based census? Why no caste-based census? It is an obvious question,” he asked.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said that unless the 50 per cent reservation cap was not removed, the OBC bill will not help in restoring the Maratha quota.

Many other members including Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party (SP) and Sanjay Singh of AAP also demanded case-based census and relaxing the 50 per cent reservation ceiling.

SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav expressed apprehension that the BJP-led UP government could remove Yadav, Kurmi and Gurjar from the list of OBCs.



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