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Bid for consensus on draft education bill

By Anita Joshua

NEW DELHI DEC. 13 . Development might have been an issue in the recent Assembly elections, but no party has responded to the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi's attempt to elicit their views on the draft Free and Compulsory Education for Children Bill, 2003, even after nearly two months. The bill is an enabling legislation without which the Fundamental Right to Elementary Education cannot work.

With reminders on telephone proving futile and time running out — particularly since the Minister was very keen on having the fundamental right operational before the next Lok Sabha elections — there is a plan to convene an all-party meeting before the winter session of Parliament to build a political consensus on the draft Bill.

Dr. Joshi apparently wants to secure a political consensus before piloting it to avoid the proposed legislation being referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee and the Bill's enactment being delayed.

Official sources said the Bill — scheduled for introduction, consideration and passage in the monsoon session of Parliament — became a victim of the controversial issues that preoccupied both Houses.

Dr. Joshi had hoped to convene an all-party meeting during the monsoon session to build a political consensus on the legislation first.

With the winter session being a truncated one and just a week left for it to end, Ministry officials see an all-party meeting as the best option in preparing the ground for the Bill's introduction and passage in next year's Budget session. When plans to convene an all-party meeting in the monsoon session did not materialise, Ministry officials had hoped to organise one in November ahead of this session. But they were in for a disappointment again, with the political parties preoccupied with the elections.

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