The Tribune

N E W S
I N ..D E T A I L

Saturday, July 11, 1998

weather n spotlight
today's calendar

Opposition stalls women's Bill
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 13 — The Lok Sabha today witnessed unprecedented scenes when papers relating to the Women’s Reservation Bill were snatched from the table of the Speaker and the hands of the Union Law Minister by a MP of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Amid bedlam the House had to be adjourned six times and the much awaited 84th Constitution Amendment Bill providing for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies could not be introduced in the House.
The women’s Bill, which could not be introduced in the 11th Lok Sabha, met the same fate today as MPs belonging to the Samajwadi Party, the RJD, the Bahujan Samaj Party and some others protested against it in its present form.
It may be recalled that during the regimes of Mr H D Deve Gowda and his successor, Mr Inder Kumar Gujral, the Bill’s introduction was prevented. Later it was moved in the Rajya Sabha and then referred to a Joint Select Committee, which prepared the Bill. This Bill is now being sought to be moved by the Vajpayee government.
Today, after five adjournments earlier in the day, the Speaker, Mr G.M.C. Balayogi, adjourned it finally at 5.30 p.m. after a RJD MP, Mr Surendra Prasad Yadav, was seen snatching the copy of the Bill from his table and later from the Union Law Minister, Mr M Thambidurai, who rose to introduce it.
Mr Yadav’s act was the culmination of the day-long protests by these parties, which were demanding the inclusion of a quota for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and minorities within the provision of 33 per cent.
The unusual scene was enacted soon after the Lok Sabha reassembled for the sixth time and MPs from the RJD, SP, BSP and some other parties trooped to the well of the House shouting slogans in support of their demand and opposing the Bill in its present form.
Those seen in the well of the House included the RJD chief, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav, the SP chief, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and the BSP leaders, Ms Mayawati and Mr Akbar Ahmed ‘Dumpy’, Mr Saifuddin Soz (National Conference) Mr E Ahmed (Muslim League), Mr Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi (MIM) and Mr Buta Singh (Independent), among others.
Just as the Speaker asked the MPs to go back to their seats and asked the Law Minister to rise to take the leave of the House to introduce the Bill, Mr Surendra Yadav was seen snatching the papers from the Speaker’s table, crumpling it and tossing it away.
He then moved over to the Law Minister’s table and snatched papers from Mr Thambidurai, who appeared to be shocked by the proceedings. The MP repeated the act of tearing the papers into two parts and flinging them away.
The situation could have taken a violent turn as some BJP MPs rose in protest and others rushed in to prevent any scuffle which looked imminent as some MPs were agitated over the issue.
The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who was present in the House as also the Home Minister, Mr Lal Krishna Advani, went away a little later.
Later, talking to media persons, the Speaker said action could be taken against those members who were involved in today’s incident. He said that action would follow as per the procedures laid down in the rules.
Mr Balayogi said the marshal of the House had already supplied names of some MPs who were agitating in the House.
The Speaker said he had sought video films of the proceedings and would take appropriate action in consultation with the Lok Sabha secretariat.
The day began with the RJD and SP members protesting against the Bill in its present form and pressing for a quota for the OBCs and minorities in the proposed women’s Bill.
A series of consultations were also held between the Speaker and leaders of all political parties and among leaders of certain parties.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Madan Lal Khurana, said that those who attended the meeting included, Mr Sharad Pawar (Congress), Mr Somnath Chatterjee (CPM), Ms Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress).
These members tried to convince Mr Laloo Prasad and Mr Mulayam Singh, but to no avail.
Mr Laloo Prasad, Mr Mulayam Singh, a former Prime Minister, Mr Chandra Shekhar and Mr Deve Gowda also met Mr Pawar and other Congress leaders to secure the party’s support to block the introduction of the Bill.
Congress favours quota for OBCs: The Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi who discussed the issue with her party colleagues, reportedly turned down any suggestion of backtracking on the measure.
The Congress maintained that while it stood committed in favour of minorities and OBCs, it was for the government to come forward with any suggestions on the issue. The Congress was committed to supporting the passage of the Bill, a party spokesperson, Dr (Ms) Girija Vyas said.

A day of shame, says Vajpayee
Tribune News Service
NEW DELHI, July 13 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today expressed deep anguish over the happenings in the Lok Sabha and described it as a "day of shame."
Addressing the media after the adjournment of the Lok Sabha this evening, Mr Vajpayee said during his four-decade Parliamentary career he had never seen such an incident.
"I have never seen what has happened today. The Speaker was prevented from discharging his duties. Papers were snatched and the Law Minister was forcibly prevented from introducing the Women’s Reservation Bill", Mr Vajpayee said.
Flanked by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana, Law Minister M. Thambi Durai and Mr Pramod Mahajan, MP, the Prime Minister said today a "handful" of people did not let the Lok Sabha function.
The Prime Minister said the majority of parties in the Lok Sabha were in favour of the Women’s Reservation Bill being introduced.
The Congress and the Left parties had already agreed to support the introduction and passage of the bill.
He said some opposition members who did not respect the majority opinion had forcibly (jor-jabardasti) prevented the Lok Sabha from transacting business.
"It rings alarm bells for democracy’’, he said.
Mr Vajpayee said the people of the country should think about it with all seriousness.
The Prime Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to get the Bill passed and said if the Opposition had any reservations over it they should convince the House on their viewpoint during discussions.
Asked if his government was willing to consider the suggestion for setting aside a quota for Other Backward Classes, a demand raised by the RJD, the SP and the BSP, he said: "All suggestions are welcome.’’
However, he ruled out providing for reservation on the basis of religion, stating that there has no legislation in the country on such lines.
To a question, whether he considered the inability of the government to move the Bill as its failure, Mr Vajpayee while replying in the negative said: "We were prevented physically (from introducing the Bill)."
On the next plans of the government, whether it would move the Bill tomorrow, Mr Vajpayee said the matter would be discussed with the Speaker.
To a question whether the government anticipated further disruption if the Bill was moved again, the Prime Minister said he hoped such incidents would not be repeated.

Speaker sees video-recording
NEW DELHI, July 13 (UNI) — Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balyogi tonight viewed the video-taped proceedings of the House, which was marred by snatching of papers by some members opposed to the women's reservation Bill. He also identified persons involved in the incident and indicated "very drastic action'' against them.
An all-party meeting has been called at 10.30 a.m. tomorrow to discuss the issue. The Speaker is expected to give its ruling in the House after the meeting.
Meanwhile, the government has requested the Speaker to include the Bill in tomorrow's agenda. The constitution amendment Bill, which seeks 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

Plan to tackle postal strike
Tribune News Service and agencies
NEW DELHI, July 13 — As the strike by employees of the Department of Posts entered the fifth day today with no signs of abatement, the government today announced a contingency plan to tide over the postal strike. The plan includes deployment of postal trainees to man counters and clearance of speedpost through special couriers.
Even as the contingency plan which envisages special arrangement for sending mail for students through the VSAT is likely to help ease the situation, a section of supervisors assured the government of their willingness to join the duty.
The Secretary of Posts, Mr R.U.S. Prasad, said the strike situation had not worsened and with the All India Association of Postal Supervisors (general line) deciding not to participate in the strike, "things are bound to improve from tomorrow."
Mr Prasad said the contingency plan had already been discussed with Union Minister for Communications, Sushma Swaraj, along with the Secretaries of the ministries concerned.
A detailed arrangement has been worked out to man counters, effecting delivery specially of the first class mail, Mr Prasad said. Among other things, first class mail includes money orders, envelopes, postcards and letters.
On whether the Essential Services Maintenance Act could be revoked in the postal strike, he said this strike came under the purview of the Industrial Disputes Act, whose section 22 (1) (D) stated that when conciliatory proceedings were on, one couldn’t go on strike.
Mr Prasad stated that the government was assessing the amount of loss the Department of Posts would suffer due to the strike and the actual figure would be available in a day or two.
The Secretary of Posts said of the 10 points in the charter of demands, three were major ones — the demand relating to pay scales of postmen, the revision of bonus formula and the implementation of the recommendations of the Justice Talwar Committee report.
"The demands made by the postal unions have been under active consideration and the postal unions should try to create congenial atmosphere before talks can be held. The Government is regularly communicating with striking postal staff," he remarked.
Mr Prasad stated the attendance in Delhi was 50 per cent, in Haryana was 50.3 per cent, in Himachal 26 per cent and in J & K 49 per cent. The attendance was less than 10 per cent in states like Assam, Bihar, Orissa and north-eastern states.
The Postal Services director announced that 75 per cent of the post offices were open.
Director P.C. Tanwar said in a statement that all services, including sale of stamps and booking of registered letters, parcels, money orders and speed post articles, were being provided at major post offices.
However, clearance of letter boxes was being done only once a day due to the strike, he said.
The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) sought the Prime Minister’s intervention to reach a settlement on the "just demands’’ of postal employees.
"It is unfortunate and ridiculous that the communications minister, instead of taking effective steps to resolve the issues, is talking tough and putting pre-conditions that the strike should be called off before commencing the negotiations,’’ Congress General Secretary H. Mahadevan said.
A marketing research association today said that each day of postal strike entailed a loss of Rs 20 crore and had so far generated an additional Rs 100 crore business to private courier services.
Some 100 million postal items, 10 million in Mumbai alone, had piled up in 150,000 post offices across the country during the five days of the strike.
Nearly three million money orders, mostly involving the poor people and those living in remote places, were also held up, while over 100 million savings account holders had been affected, it said.
Meanwhile, the issue of the ongoing strike by postal employees today came up in the Rajya Sabha as members expressed concern and called upon the government to settle the issue expeditiously.
Raising the matter through special mention, Mr Gurudas Das Gupta (CPI) described the attitude of the government towards the striking employees as ‘deplorable’ and said that their demands should be met. He said the Communications Minister Sushma Swaraj should hold talks with the postal employees to resolve the issue at the earliest.
Nilotpal Basu (CPI-M) charged the government with not acting in time. He said the government started negotiations with the postal employees only after the strike began despite being given one month notice.
Mr R. Margabandu (AIADMK) called on both the government and the employees to arrive at a mutual settlement and said conceding of the postal employees demand for higher salaries would cost the exchequer Rs 600 crore.
Meanwhile, a section of the striking postal employees today withdrew from the stir.
Postmasters, Assistant Postmasters, Public Relations Inspectors and supervisors, who account for nearly 20,000 of over six lakh striking employees, have decided to call off the strike, Mr R.U.S. Prasad, Secretary, Posts, told reporters here. The striking employees included 3.8 lakh extra-departmental agents (EDA).
Mr Prasad said with the All-India Association of postal supervisors deciding to call off the stir, the situation was likely to improve as they are considered as "custodians" of post offices.

Police inaction brings people on streets
From Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service
PATIALA, July 13 — An irate mob stopped vehicular traffic at the Badi Nadi bridge on the Patiala-Rajpura road today in protest against the alleged police "inaction" in nabbing suspected robbers in Bajwa Colony last night.
The mob alleged that two other persons handed over to the police at 3.30 a.m. today, one of whom was a police personnel, from the Rajpura bypass, were the ones who were seen moving about in a suspicious manner near Bajwa Colony.
While the mob lifted the blockade for some time it again forced the closure of the main road and two other side roads leading to various localities in Patiala as it was not satisfied with police action. The blockade finally lifted at 2 p.m.
The district police was, however, categoric that rumours were responsible for the blockade and that constable Satnam Singh of 36th Battalion at Bahadurgarh and his cousin Ranjodh Singh were intercepted by ASI Bakshish Singh immediately as they were spotted by a 'thikri pehra' group.
SP (Detective) Kewal Kumar disclosed that the two had been taken into custody and they had nothing to do with certain persons who were said to be moving about in a suspicious manner near Bajwa Colony. He said the address of the constable and his brother had been verified from the sarpanch of Reeth Kheri village and it had been proved they were going to their sister's house in Bahadurgarh.