Stormy Parliament session ends 2 days before schedule
Both the Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die on Wednesday after passing the crucial Constitution Amendment Bill that relates to OBC quota. The Constitution 127th Amendment Bill, 2021, that was passed by Lok Sabha on Tuesday unanimously, was on Wednesday cleared by the Upper House before the Houses were adjourned two days before the scheduled date. The Lok Sabha hardly functioned during the Monsoon session, and on Wednesday too it witnessed disruptions as it was adjourned indefinitely with Prime Minister Narendra Modi sitting in the House.
The Rajya Sabha saw constant adjournments over the Opposition’s demand to discuss the Pegasus spyware issue. Before the final adjournment, Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Constitution 127th Amendment Bill, 2021. Dr Virendra Kumar, minister of social justice and empowerment, thanked all members for the consensus shown in discussing
the Bill.
"It is a history-making Bill," he said. The Bill gives back power to states to identify social and economic backward classes. Mallaikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said, “The reservation cap should be removed, which is now 50 per cent, as if it is not removed then the purpose of the Bill is defeated because the states should get the power to increase the reservation.”
Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi and RJD MP Dr Manoj Kumar Jha demanded caste census in the country to ascertain the number of OBCs. The
Opposition got a harsh reply from the government with Sushil Modi of the BJP claiming that the whole OBC reservation came into existence due to the efforts of the BJP. SP Leader Ram Gopal Yadav said the UP government is planning to remove Yadavas, Kurmis and Gurjars from the OBC list.
Tiruchi Siva of the DMK said that Tamil Nadu, with its 69 per cent reservation, leads in empowerment and social justice. Supporting the Bill, he added, the government was compelled to introduce the Bill as 671 OCB committees were being
affected. “This was done under compulsion. Federalism is not a suitable word for you (government). For you, all is unitary — one language, one religion, etc. But federalism is the core feature of the country.” He said, “Caste census should be immediately conducted and the 50 per cent cap on reservation should be done away with.”
Social justice and empowerment minister Veerendra Kumar replied after the discussion. He said he is very happy that despite differences among parties and in ideologies, everyone has supported the Bill.
He further added that the government is committed to social justice. The Bill was needed after the Supreme Court struck down the Maratha reservation.
The Bill was passed unanimously.
Meanwhile, taking note of a complaint filed by Congress leader and chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on IT, Shashi Tharoor, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is learnt to have met the secretaries of the home, information technology and telecom ministries, sources said. The three secretaries wrote to Mr Tharoor conveying their unavailability to depose before the panel at its meeting on July 28, in which the committee was expected to take up the Pegasus snooping issue.
A day after the meeting, Mr Tharoor wrote to Mr Birla informing him that the three secretaries were called to depose on “citizens’ data security and privacy”.
The meeting was cancelled after BJP members boycotted it, resulting in a lack of quorum. Mr Tharoor met the Speaker on several occasions on the issue of non-appearance of government officials before the standing committee meeting on July 28. Mr Birla was expected to hold an informal meeting of all the panel members, but so far no such meeting has taken place. The committee is again expected to meet on August 17 to adopt the reports on “Internet Shutdowns in India” and “Media Ethics”.