A week on, Governor nod still not in for Bill to hike quota in Bihar

More than a week on, the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar is still awaiting the Governor’s assent to the legislation that sought to increase reservations in state government jobs and admissions to educational institutions for the backward classes to 65 per cent from the existing 50 per cent.

“All other bills passed by the state legislature during the winter session (November 5-10) have been approved by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and returned to the government. However, nod to bills relating to reservation is still awaited,” said an official of the general administrative department (GAD), who didn’t wish to be named.

Parliamentary affairs minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary wondered reasons for delay in the Raj Bhawan’s nod, but said there was no query regarding the bills. “It may be approved in the next few days, after which the government would notify the new reservation norms,” Chaudhary said, adding that other bills, including Appropriation Bill, Secretariat Services (amendment) Bill, Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill and GST (amendment) Bill have been returned after the Governor’s seal.

The new reservation policy, if approved, envisages 20% reservation for scheduled castes (SCs) against the existing 16%, 2% for ST in place of 1%, 18% for backward classes (BCs) against 12% and 25% for the extremely backward castes (EBCs) instead of the current 18%.

Meanwhile, the ruling alliance is waiting for the notification of the new reservation policy to launch its statewide campaign.

“As directed by chief minister Nitish Kumar, senior leaders of the party will huddle together and thrash out modalities for reaching out to the masses and apprise them about benefits of the enhanced reservations and solicit their support to espouse the cause for special status to Bihar,” Neeraj Kumar, chief spokesman of Janata Dal (United) and member of the legislative council (MLC), said on Saturday.

He said the party would deliberate ways to launch massive awareness campaign on two issues — the new reservation policy and special status to Bihar — after the Chhath festival. “The campaign will continue till the Lok Sabha elections due next year to bolster the electoral prospects for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc,” said the JD(U) MLC.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwari said his party was planning mega event to create awareness among the masses for its bid to bring the deprived sections of the society into national mainstream by giving them extra advantage through reservations in jobs and admissions.

Echoing similar views, media department head of Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC), Rajesh Kumar Rathore, said the party would convene a meeting of senior leaders in the second or third week of the next month to chalk out the campaign strategy.