Parliament okays 10 year extension of SC/ST reservation

The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha yesterday.

Earlier, Congress member H Hanumanthappa withdrew his amendments seeking to extend reservation by another 30 years after a request made by the Law and Justice Minister Ram Jethmalani.

Replying to the debate, Jethmalani said that scheduled castes and scheduled tribes should realise that by asking for reservation, they were asking for their rights and not charity.

He said it was a national failure and tragedy that there has not been much change to the life of depressed classes, despite over 50 years of democracy. He refused to agree with some members that reservations had not helped change the conditions of the depressed classes.

"The reasons that created depression still persists in the country and hence, there is need to continue with reservation," the Minister added. Benefits of reservation has not fully percolated to the depressed classes, he said, adding that it has begun to show signs of penetration into different sections.

On identifying better-off sections among the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, Jethmalani said it could be discussed separately.

He said that some of the problems faced by the depressed classes, such as corruption, were not confined to them alone, but was common to society and had to be dealt with seriously.

Earlier, moving the bill, Jethmalani said that the Government was committed to the cause of SC/ST and suggested a three-day convention to discuss their problems.

"We have to break a new path. I am looking forward for a contribution from all members so that we can go ahead and wipe off what must be considered a dark spot on the otherwise fair face of India’s body politic," he said.

Initiating the discussion, senior Congress member from Karnataka H Hanumanthappa asked for an attitudinal change in the minds of general society and said that there was still discrimination against SC/ST communities.

Eduardo Faleiro (Cong) demanded permanent reservation of members belonging to the Anglo-Indian community in the Lok Sabha and said SC and ST people who had converted to Christanity and Islam should not be denied reservation.

Gandhi Azad (BSP) asked for extending reservation on a permanent basis and said there was no need to review it every 10 years.

S Ramchandra Reddy (TDP) said members of the SC/ST communities were subjected to exploitation and atrocities as successive governments in the past had failed to bring them at par with other sections of society.

Chhunni Lal Chudhary (BJP) asked for a legislation to punish those who failed to implement reservation to SC/STs.

Expressing his support to the Amendment Bill, Sanghapriya Gautam (BJP) said minorities and downtrodden should be educationally uplifted to improve their status.

R Margabandu (AIADMK) suggested that a policy should be framed so that the benefits of reservation go to the real needy people and not to the "creamy layer" of the SC/ST alone.

S S Pradhan (Shiv Sena) said that the root cause of reservation was the lack of education and asked for steps to educate them, so that reservation could be done away with in ten years time.