Rajya Sabha proceedings disrupted for third day

Rajya Sabha proceedings were washed out completely for the third day in a row on Wednesday over various issues including the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and roster system for reservation in educational institutions. As soon as the House resumed its proceedings at 2 PM, RJD, SP, BSP and TMC members trooped into the well protesting over various issues mainly introduction of roster system in educational institutions which they claim limits the scope of reservation for jobs.

Besides Congress members were also on their feet to lodge their protest. The roster system provides that number of vacancies are considered department or wing wise in a college or university and not total number of posts available for recruitment in any institution. This results in limited seats available for recruitment by each department or wing under reserved categories.

Deputy Speaker Harivansh asked protesting members in the well to return to their respective seats. However, the members did not relent and kept on raising slogans like "Anti-poor government cannot function". They were also holding placards to protest against the roster system.

He then requested SP leader Ramgopal Yadav to end the protest as he will be given a chance to speak on the issue during the Zero Hour. Yadav said the government has deviated from its promise made in the House on this issue.

In the meantime Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Goel tried to pacify Yadav. However, the protest continued. Human Resource Minister Prakash Javadekar said government is working on the issue and preparing a special leave petition and review petition for filing in the Supreme Court.

When the members continued raising slogans and showing placards, Harivansh said, "In this situation, I have no other option but to adjourn the House till February 7." Earlier in the morning the House was adjourned till 2 pm after opposition MPs tried to protest against various issues including the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Soon after official papers were presented to the House, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu started to read names of members who had given notices seeking to raise matters of urgent importance by setting aside rules of business.

Even before he could finish speaking, MPs from Assam were up on their feet and showed copies of a newspaper. Samajwadi Party MPs too were up on their feet but Naidu adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm even before any one of them could speak.

In the afternoon, Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju introduced The Constitution (125th Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the upper House. The bill seeks to bring in tribal dominated autonomous district councils of North East under purview of the Finance Commission.

This would make more funds accessible for local development for 1 crore people in 10 autonomous district councils..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)