December 14-21

The Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill, 2012 (Quota in Promotions Bill)

It seems to be the season for legislation. Post the passing of the Bill to allow FDI in Multi Brand Retail and the prime role played by Ms. Mayawati in ensuring its passage; it was time for the UPA to help Ms. Mayawati in the passage of the Quota-in-promotions bill.

Now this bill is interesting since it allows for a quota in promotions for SC and ST in Givernment Service. Considering the beneficiaries of the proposed bill are the target constituency of Ms. Mayawati, it was not surprising to see her promote the passage of the bill aggressively.

In fact some would say that the support for the FDI in Multi Brand retail was contingent on the Government helping the safe passage of this bill. However, this would be a very simplistic assumption if you consider that the bill was passed with a two thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha. Of the 245 members in the Rajya Sabha, the bill was passed by 194 members.

The most vocal opponents of the bill was the Samajwadi Party whose core vote bank consists of Muslims and OBC’s; the one’s most likely to be affected by the passing of this bill. But the opposition is not towards quota but the fact that there core-constituency is currently not taken care of with a Promotions quota of its own.

However, since this series was written with a view on 2014 elections, it is clear from the voting of all major parties that none of them want to antagonize any vote bank by being known to publicly anti-quota. Even though, state units of both the BJP and INC in UP have expressed grave reservations to this bill according to media reports.

Further, importantly, this amendment would override Article 335 of the Constitution:

Article 335 of the Constitution states that the claims of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes have to be balanced with maintaining efficiency in administration.  (http://www.prsindia.org/billtrack/constitution-one-hundred-seventeenth-amendment-bill-2012--2462/)

Now, it would be interesting to note what happens in the Lok Sabha, where the SP has a lot more seats to try and block the passage of this bill. Further it would be interesting to note what the other parties depending on substantial OBC votes like RJD and JD(U) do?