The Hindu : New Delhi News : OBC reservation Bill unlikely this session

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Wednesday, Nov 22, 2006
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New Delhi

OBC reservation Bill unlikely this session

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A Bill for providing reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in unaided institutions is unlikely to be tabled in Parliament in the winter session.

Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has told reporters here, "We are in the process of preparing the bill, but I doubt [whether it would be introduced]."

In the last session, the Government introduced the Bill to provide reservation to the OBCs in Central educational institutions, barring minority establishments and those in tribal areas.

The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Bill, 2006 was subsequently referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee.

The Government proposed to move a separate bill to cover unaided institutions such as deemed universities in the winter session.

A core group, headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and with Mr. Singh and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram as members, is going into the issue.

Consultations

The Group last month held two-day consultations with the States and rejected demands from some political parties for inclusion of minority institutions in the legislation for reservation in unaided institutions.

While most of the major deemed universities agreed to provide reservation, BITS, Pilani, strongly opposed the proposal.

On the Foreign Universities Bill, Mr. Singh said it was still at the discussion stage.

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