Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday announced that his party will take up three crucial issues related to social justice and empowerment in the upcoming Monsoon session of Parliament.
The 17-sitting session is scheduled to be held from July 21 to August 12.
In a post on handle ‘X’, Ramesh said these issues are aimed at making the proposed 65% reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, and EBCs in Bihar a reality.
He said the Congress demands Bihar reservations be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, similar to the 1994 amendment for Tamil Nadu’s 69% reservations. “This was done by the Narasimha Rao Govt in 1994 for protecting 69% reservations in Tamil Nadu,” Ramesh said.
The Ninth Schedule of the Constitution shields certain laws from judicial review, particularly those related to land reforms and socio-economic development. It was added by the First Amendment in 1951 to protect these laws from being challenged in courts on the grounds of violating fundamental rights. Currently, 284 such laws are protected under this schedule.
Ramesh further said that the Congress party seeks to amend the Constitution to remove the 50% ceiling for reservations, which has been imposed due to various Supreme Court judgments. The Congress, he said, also wants to implement reservations for SCs, STs, OBCs, and EBCs in private educational institutions, as enabled by Article 15(5) of the Constitution.
Article 15(5) of the Constitution allows the State to make special provisions for the advancement of socially and educationally backward classes, as well as for SCs and STs, in relation to their admission to educational institutions, including private unaided institutions. This means the government can implement reservations in educational institutions for these groups. However, it excludes minority educational institutions as defined in Article 30(1).
“Most definitely the INC will take up these three issues of fundamental importance to social justice and empowerment in the Monsoon session of Parliament that begins on July 21, 2025,” Ramesh stated.
The Congress party’s move comes as the Bihar government, led by the NDA, has seemingly given up on implementing the proposed 65% reservation, despite the caste survey conducted by the previous INDIA bloc government. The party’s demands aim to address the issue of social justice and empowerment in a more comprehensive manner. The demand assumes added significance as it comes in the backdrop of the forthcoming assembly elections.