States Bills may go the women's quota way

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MAY 18. A day after the drama in the Lok Sabha over the three Bills on the creation of the States of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, it has become clear that it was no more than a half-hearted attempt by the Vajpayee Government to score political points over its rivals.

It is also likely that these controversial bills could meet the fate of the women's reservation bill as the Opposition, particularly the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), are determined to stall them in their present form.

The RJD Parliamentary Party leader, Mr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, asserted here that his party would not allow the introduction of the Jharkhand Bill as it does not incorporate the amendment approved by the Assembly/ Legislature Council for a financial package of Rs. 1,79,000 crores to Bihar.

The Opposition parties reacted sharply to the manner in which the Government sought to introduce the Bills in the supplementary agenda of the Lok Sabha. The drafts were circulated minutes before the Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, rose to introduce the Bills.

The Lok Sabha Secretariat circulated the Bills among the members around 3.35 p.m. Several members complained that they never received the drafts.

According to sources, the Secretariat had waited till 10 p.m. on Tuesday for copies of the Bills from the Home Ministry so that they could be sent for printing. But it was only in the early hours of Wednesday, 2 a.m. to be precise, that the Secretariat received the typescripts of the Bills; the Ministry officials did not even bother to leave any word about the delay. ``You cannot expect us to arrange for printing at that hour. We had to send them only during morning,'' a senior Lok Sabha official said.

The Government had sought permission from the Speaker, Mr. G.M.C. Balayogi, for the introduction of the Bills and their circulation among members. As the copies were not ready, the Speaker did not give the permission. He agreed to waive the rule which requires the circulation of Bills 48 hours before their introduction only after Mr. Advani and the Finance Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, walked into his chambers and made a case to allow the Government to ahead with them.

The drama did not end there. Immediately after the House was adjourned following the furore over Mr. Advani's attempt to introduce the Uttarakhand Bill, a group of 20-odd BJP MPs urged the Speaker to extend the House by another two days to enable completion of the business on the new States. However, the Speaker rejected the plea.

Mr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, also a former Speaker of the Bihar Assembly, pointed out that under the rules a Bill for the creation of a new State has to be gazetted a month in advance of its being introduced, and it has to be circulated among MPs at least one week in advance.

Under special circumstances, the Speaker can waive the rule and allow for the circulation of the Bill 48 hours in advance. ``I do not understand the emergency in this case. Why are the rules waived at the drop of a hat,'' he asked.

He strongly refuted the Government's contention that the delay in finalisation of the Bills was on account of the time taken by the Bihar Government. The Jharkhand Bill was approved by the Bihar Assembly and State Legislature on April 25 and sent back to the Centre.

Mr. Singh said Bihar cannot accept the creation of Jharkhand without being compensated with Rs. 1,79,000 crores as 91 per cent of the State's revenues are from the mineral-rich Jharkhand region. He said as per the amendments suggested by the Assembly/ Council, the Centre should declare the rest of Bihar as ``extremely backward'' and extend 90 per cent grant to compensate for the loss of Jharkhand.

In monsoon session

UNI reports:

The Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, has assured his party colleagues that the Government would introduce the States' reorganisation Bills during the monsoon session of Parliament. He gave this assurance to 15-20 MPs of the BJP and other parties representing Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and Chhattisgarh regions, who had an informal interaction with him.

The Minister of State, Mr. Babulal Marandi, who was part of the delegation, said Mr. Vajpayee gave a patient hearing and agreed on the need for an early introduction of the Bills.

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