Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha ratified the 126th Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2019 to pave the way for the extension of the reservation benefits for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for the next 10 years.
The special session of the Vidhan Sabha was specifically convened for the purpose as it is only after ratification by at least 50 per cent of the state assemblies that the Bill passed by both houses of the Parliament will become an Act. The Bill was brought to ratify under Clause 2 (d) of Article 368 of the Constitution of India.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur presented the bill. In his address, the CM said that even 70 years after independence, the people belonging to this section are still subjected to social discrimination despite legislation.
Cutting across the party lines, legislators supported the ratification of the Bill as they felt that the reservation is needed to grant equality in socio-cultural, economic and all other spheres of life.
Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri, Ram Lal Markande, Harshwardhan Chauhan, Rakesh Singha, Balbir Singh, Ram Lal Thakur, Dhani Ram Shandil, Rakesh Pathania, Asha Kumari, Jagat Singh Negi, Rajeev Sehjal, Nand Lal and Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu participated in the debate.
