Parliament: Lok Sabha approves bill extending SC/ST reservation in legislatures

7.16 pm: The reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Anglo Indians in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies is to expire on January 25, 2020. This bill extends the quota by 10 years. The bill was introduced by Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday.

House adjourned for the day.

7.13 pm: The Lok Sabha has passed The Constitution (126th Amendment) Bill, 2019, The Indian Express reports. This bill amends provisions related to reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

6.30 pm: The Arms Amendment Bill has been passed in the Rajya Sabha. House adjourned for the day.

4.41 pm: Earlier in the day, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy has informed the Lok Sabha that the Jammu and Kashmir administration that stone pelters, over ground workers, and separatists were taken into preventive custody to “prevent committing of offences involving breach of peace,activities prejudicial to the security of State and maintenance of public order”, Firstpost reports.

4.39 pm: Congress MP Madhusudan Mistry says it has become the Centre’s habit to bring a legislation passed in the Lok Sabha and attempt to get it passed on the same day without giving other leaders time to discuss the bill, reports The Hindu.

4.36 pm: Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy moves The Arms (Amendment), Bill, 2019 in the Rajya Sabha. The proposed legislation seeks to reduce the number of licensed firearms allowed per person and increase penalties for certain offences under the Act. It also introduces new categories of offences.

The bill was approved in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

4.34 pm: YSR Congress Party leader Goddeti Madhavi says over 45% of the tribal community is under the poverty line. “My presence here is because of the reservation,” she says.

4.32 pm: Lok Sabha discusses the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Bill amends provisions related to reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi points to admission figures of Indian Institutes of Management, and the Indian Institutes of Technology. She says there is an intellectual untouchability, and stresses on the need to empower the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes community, according to The Hindu.

4.23 pm: In the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister Piyush Goyal presents India’s stand in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, reports The Hindu.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, is a free trade agreement among 16 countries across the Asia-Pacific region that aims to reduce tariffs and duties for member countries so that goods and services can flow freely. It will become the world’s largest trade bloc when created.

On November 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed that India will not participate in the trade bloc. India fears, among other things, a potential flood of Chinese imports after the barriers are demolished.

Also read:

RCEP explainer: Why Modi government did not join the world’s largest trading bloc

2.58 pm: “Anyone who disagrees is a ‘deshdrohi’ is their illusion,” says Uddhav Thackeray. He adds that the Shiv Sena has suggested changes to the bill before it is introduced in the Rajya Sabha. “It is an illusion that only BJP cares for the country,” he adds.

2.55 pm: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray says the party will not support the Citizenship Amendment Bill unless things are clear, ANI reports. The party had supported the bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday, hours after criticising the Centre and claiming that it will not back the legislation.

“If any citizen is afraid of this Bill then one must clear their doubts,” Thackeray says. “They are our citizens so one must answer their questions too.”

1.51 pm: Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not speaking about the murder of a veterinarian in Hyderabad, and the extrajudicial killings of those accused of raping her, reports News18. “Unfortunate that prime minister who speaks on everything, is silent on the issue of spurt in crimes against women. From ‘Make in India’, India is slowly heading towards ‘rape in India’.”

12.07 pm: Trinamool Congress asks Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call the West Bengal governor back. “The West Bengal governor has withheld the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Bill that was cleared by the West Bengal Assembly,” says O’Brien. “This is an insult to Indian Constitution, West Bengal Assembly, and the people of West Bengal.”

12.05 pm: Trinamool Congress stages walkout in the Rajya Sabha over bills pending for West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar’s approval. “The West Bengal Governor’s house has turned into a local branch of the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh],” says Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien, according to The Hindu.

Last week, the Assembly was adjourned for two days after bills slated to be tabled in the Assembly were still awaiting Dhankar’s approval.

12.04 pm: “Farooq Abdullah’s father was kept in jail for 11 years by Congress, we don’t want to follow them, as soon as administration decides, they will be released,” says the home minister in Lok Sabha.

11.57 am: “There is no need to keep anyone [leaders] in jail even for a day more than that is required,” Shah says, according to PTI. “As and when the local administration feels the time is appropriate, they will be released. There will be no interference from our side.”

Farooq Abdullah, a National Conference leader, was placed under house arrest on August 5, and has not been able to attend Parliament since then – the last few days of the Monsoon Session, and the ongoing Winter Session.

11.55 am: The home minister says 99.5% students sat for exams. “But for Adhir Ranjan this is not normalcy, seven lakh people availed OPD [Outpatient Department] services in Srinagar,” he adds. “Curfew, Section 144 removed from everywhere. But for Adhir only parameter for normalcy is political activity. What about local body polls which were held?”.

11.52 am: Amit Shah says situation in Kashmir Valley is completely normal, ANI reports. “I can’t make Congress’s condition normal, because they had predicted bloodshed after abrogation of Article 370,” he adds. “Nothing of that sort happened, not one bullet was fired.”

11.51 am: Union Home Minister Amit Shah speaks about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir in Lok Sabha.

India had on August 5 rescinded the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Constitution. The state was also bifurcated into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

11.50 am: Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asks the government when political leaders, including sitting member and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah would be released.

11.25 am: Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishen Reddy talks about militants’ infiltration, reports The Hindu. “Whatever measure needs to be taken to protect law and order in Jammu and Kashmir will continue to be taken by this government,” he says.

The minister says eight lakh stone-pelting cases were reported in 2018 and 544 this year. Following the Centre’s August 5 order to revoke the region’s special status, 190 stone-pelting cases were reported.

11.16 am: Left parties are protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament, reports ANI. The bill seeks to give citizenship to refugees from the Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and Zoroastrian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Also read: ‘What a sham’: How newspapers reported the passage of Citizenship Bill

11.10 am: Rajya Sabha will take up Citizenship Amendment Bill on Wednesday, according to News18. It was passed in Lok Sabha on Monday by a division of votes with 311 in favour and 80 against it.

11.01 am: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will introduce Arms Amendments Bill, 2019, in the Rajya Sabha today. The bill was passed smoothly in Lok Sabha on Monday.