Among the bills that were listed for consideration and passage during the Parliament's monsoon session, that began on Monday, is the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017, which was passed by the Lok Sabha this April, and referred to the Rajya Sabha select committee. The committee is expected to report to the Parliament before the end of the first week's session.
The proposed constitutional amendment provides for a commission for socially and educationally backward classes, and empowers it to hear their grievances.
Also listed for this session is the National Commission for Backward Classes (Repeal) Bill, 2017, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on April 10 this year; the same day that the house passed the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill, 2017. By passing this, the Lok Sabha approved the repeal of the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.
By attempting to replace the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) by the National Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (NCSEBC), the Modi government has sent out positive feelers to a much larger constituency that represents a wider spectrum of social groups.
But this still remains a work in progress. To give the NCSEBC constitutional status, the amendment has to be approved by the Rajya Sabha, where BJP lacks the numbers, and it has to be ratified by half the state legislatures.
Constitutional status for the proposed commission will ensure that it will have the powers to hear complaints from people in these categories. More importantly, the educationally and socially backward classes—which comprise many OBCs who have taken to the streets with many demands—have a commission through which they can make complaints pertaining to exclusion, or demand for inclusion, in certain specific fields.
Interestingly, both the bill to repeal the NCBC and the one to provide for NCSEBC were tabled in the Parliament on April 5, soon after the BJP won the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. It passed in Lok Sabha in five days flat.
