Punjab Assembly ratifies bill to extend reservation to SCs, STs

The Punjab Assembly on Friday ratified a bill to extend reservation to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in legislatures for another 10 years.

The motion to ratify the Constitution (126th Amendment) Bill 2019 extending reservation for SCs and STs in Lok Sabha and state assemblies by another 10 years was moved by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

The bill was passed by the Assembly unanimously without any debate.

The reservation for SCs, STs given for the last 70 years in Lok Sabha and state assemblies was due to end on January 25, 2020.

Parliament recently passed a constitution amendment bill in this regard and it has to be ratified by at least 50 per cent of the assemblies before it becomes a law.

There are 84 members belonging to the Scheduled Caste and 47 from the Scheduled Tribe communities in Parliament. In assemblies, there are 614 SC members and 554 ST members.

Noting that the founding fathers of the Constitution led by Dr B R Ambedkar had provided a term of 10 years of reservation for SCs and STs, the chief minister told the Assembly that the reservation had been extended by successive union governments since then.

Despite improvement in the socio-economic status of these communities over the last 70 years aided by anti-discrimination policies and reservation in political representation and jobs, they still lag behind on several parameters, he said.

As a result, he said, there was a strong case to extend the reservation to achieve the goal of development of the poor and downtrodden sections of the society.

"I am aware that there may be many other issues concerning development of SCs and my government is fully committed to them but today this resolution may be adopted unanimously without any second thought," asserted Amarinder Singh.

He also underlined the need for all to collectively renew their commitment to the welfare and upliftment of the groups through proper education, training and representation in jobs.