PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday urged the Centre to include Bihar's new reservation law which provides 65 per cent quota to deprived castes, in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to provide it immunity from the legal scrutiny.
The Ninth Schedule of the Constitution includes a list of Central and state laws that cannot be challenged in courts.
Addressing the 26th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council in the presence of Union home minister Amit Shah, Nitish drew attention of Shah towards the state government’s recent decision to hike the quota percentage for deprived castes from 50 to 65 percent and said his government has sent a proposal to the Centre to include the state’s new revised reservation law in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.
“We hope the Centre will soon include the state’s reservation law in the Ninth Schedule,” said Nitish who shared dais with Shah for the first time after the JD(U) leader dumped the BJP to form the grand alliance government in Bihar in August last year.
Referring to the economic condition of different social groups in the state, Nitish further urged Shah to grant special category status to Bihar, so that his government could provide necessary financial assistance to “94 lakh families” who were identified as “poor” in the recent caste survey in the state.
“Bihar government has planned to undertake a number of welfare measures for the benefit of "94 lakh families.” We intend to provide, in instalments, an assistance of Rs two lakh to one member of each of these families. The state government has also planned to build pucca houses for homeless families and every such household will be provided Rs 1.20 lakh for the purpose,” Nitish said at the meeting.
Nitish further said his government had been providing an assistance of Rs 60,000 to landless families for purchasing land but has now decided to raise the sum to Rs one lakh.
“The implementation of all such measures will incur an expenditure of Rs 2.50 lakh crore. Because of the huge sum involved, we have set a deadline of five years from now for the completion of the schemes. But if we get special category status for Bihar, we will be able to accomplish the task in a much shorter time,” Nitish said adding, “We have been demanding the special category status for Bihar since 2010.”
“We expect you will definitely think about granting the special category status to Bihar,” Nitish told Shah at the meeting.
Eastern Zonal Council comprises the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha. Nitish was the only chief minister present at the meeting. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, her Odisha and Jharkhand counterparts Naveen Pattnaik and Hemant Soren could not arrive here to attend the meeting.
