LS passes bills on right to education, personal laws

The Lok Sabha on Monday passed "Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018" and "The Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018" amid uproar created by the opposition on various issues.

Union Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar introduced "Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018" saying that the amendment made by the Rajya Sabha in the bill to further amend the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 be taken into consideration.

Introducing the Bill, which was later passed by the House without discussion, Javadekar informed Speaker Sumitra Mahajan that "on page 1, line 3, for the word and figure "Act, 2018", the word and figure "Act, 2019" be submitted.

Union Minister P.P. Choudhary introduced "Personal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018" to amend the Divorce Act, 1869; Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939; Special Marriage Act, 1954; Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; and the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956. It strikes out leprosy as a ground for seeking divorce.

The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the bill. Before this landmark decision, people affected by leprosy were equated with those experiencing mental illness under several Marriage Acts and the Indian Divorce Act.

The Bill was opposed by AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, while Biju Janata Dal's Bhartruhari Mahtab, Trinamool Congress's Kalyan Banerjee and TRS's Vinod Kumar supported it with some suggestions like rehabilitation of victims facing leprosy problem which lead to divorce and state and Central government to work on it jointly.

In a reply, Choudhary said: "Several steps are being taken by state governments for the rehabilitation of those facing leprosy disease."

--IANS

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