Upper caste quota bill gets President’s nod

Ram Nath Kovind approves a constitutional amendment that provides 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker general category people in education and government jobs

NEW DELHI: President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday approved a constitutional amendment that provides 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker general category people in education and government jobs.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Third Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by Parliament on the last day of the winter session this week with daylong discussions and voting in both Houses.

The Act amends Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution to provide quota to the general category people with a family income of up to Rs 8 lakh per anum.

“Nothing in this Article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any economically weaker sections of citizens other than the classes mentioned in clause (4), in addition to the existing reservation and subject to a maximum of ten per cent of the posts in each category,” the Amendment of Article 16 read. “For the purposes of this Article and Article 16, ‘economically weaker sections’ shall be such as may be notiied by the State from time to time on the basis of family income and other indicators of economic disadvantage,” the notiication by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice said.

The 10 per cent quota is in addition to the 22.5 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and 27 per cent reservation for castes identiied as the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The fresh provision does not tinker with the existing 49.5 per cent of this quota.

With the new 10 per cent quota becoming a law with the President’s assent, the total reservation in jobs and education now stands at 59.5 per cent.

The Opposition, while voting in favour of the Bill in Parliament, questioned the legality of the legislation as the Supreme Court has already ixed the upper cap of reservation at 50 per cent.

Separately, pitching himself as the sole leader against a motley group of individuals on the rival side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday dismissed the opposition grand alliance as a “failed experiment” and said that parties are coming together to defeat “one man” to form a “majboor” (helpless) government while the country wants a “majboot” (strong) government.

He also launched a scathing attack on the Congress saying it had pushed the country into darkness, bled banks and had created road blocks to an early judicial solution to the Ayodhya dispute.

In his valedictory remarks winding up the two-day BJP National Convention at the Ramlila Maidan here, he set the tone for the BJP’S bid to come back to power again, stating that his government’s track record was “spotless”, it worked with honesty for all sections, ended despondency, raised people’s conidence, accelerated the pace of development and enhanced India’s stature.

Speaking on the legislation giving ten per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections among the general category, he said this was not only reservations but will give a new dimension to the youth of the country.

Accusing rivals of spreading rumours and hatching conspiracies that the new quota will be at the cost of the existing reservations for SC-STS and OBCS, he said “we have to foil their designs”.

Cautioning party workers against any complacency, he said the election will be won on the BJP’S tried and tested method of “mera booth, sabse majboot” and not by his speeches alone.

The convention adopted a political resolution, which described the mahagathbandhan as a “comical alliance” and said the choice before the people was between “stability and instability, between an honest and courageous leader and a leaderless opportunistic alliance - a majboot government and a majboor government.” Modi came down heavily on the opposition parties, saying they were aligning for their “self interest” while the Bjp-led NDA government was ighting for the nation’s interest.

“These days a campaign has been going on to promote mahagathbandhan which is a failed experiment of Indian political history. The parties, which were born protesting against the Congress, its working culture and its corrupt practices, are now uniting,” Modi said in a direct attack on most of the regional parties which are forging a grand alliance with the Congress.

He told over 12,000 delegates including from top brass to district-level ofice bearers that these political parties were surrendering to the Congress at a time when the grand old party was at its “lowest ebb” and its leaders were out on bail in corruption cases.

“These parties (the regional parties), which had emerged as options against the Congress, have betrayed the people’s mandate and trust,” he said.