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HRD Ministry clarifies

NEW DELHI AUG. 8. The Human Resource Development Ministry today said in a statement that the report, `Right to education a distant dream', published in these columns on Thursday was factually incorrect.

The Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill 2001 had not been sent to the President for assent because, after having been passed by the Rajya Sabha, the Bill had been sent back to the Lok Sabha to accept the amendments of a technical nature carried out by the Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha is yet to pass the Bill.

The following is the text of the statement from the Human Resource Development Ministry :

This is regarding the report `Right to education a distant dream?', which appeared on the front page of your esteemed daily today (Aug.8). This report is factually incorrect and thus paints a completely distorted picture of the truth. The report alleges that the Constitution (93rd Amendment) Bill 2001 has not been sent to the President for assent because the Government has developed `cold feet' in view of huge expenditure involved.

The Bill after having been passed by the Rajya Sabha, has been sent back to the Lok Sabha to accept the amendments carried out in the Bill by the Rajya Sabha. These amendments are of a technical nature necessitated by the fact that while the Lok Sabha passed the Bill in 2001, the Rajya Sabha could do the same only in 2002. This delay occurred because the Parliament House was attacked by the terrorists on 13th December, 2001 after which the regular business schedule of Parliament was upset. Thus, the Bill was listed in the next session possible, i.e. Budget session. While passing the Bill, the Rajya Sabha needed to carry out certain amendments relating to the year of the Bill, by which references to the year 2001 had to be changed to the year 2002. While these amendments are only technical in nature, they are nevertheless amendments to the Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha.

So the Lok Sabha would have to finally agree to these changes before the Bill can be said to have been passed by both the Houses of Parliament. And since this is a Constitutional Amendment, even these changes would have to undergo the same procedures that are required for a Constitutional Amendment. It is only after this that the Bill can be sent to the President for his assent.

The Ministry had already sent notices to the Lok Sabha for taking up the Bill for consideration in the Budget session, and again in the Monsoon session. The first notice was sent on 15.5.2002, a day after the

Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha, and the second notice on 13.7.2002 for the Monsoon session. It is expected that the Bill would be taken up for consideration in the present session itself. As soon as the Bill is passed, it will be sent to the President for his assent.

The Government has no intention of putting it in `cold storage' and is committed to provision of adequate funds required for the purpose.

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