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No problem in Quota Bill implementation: Arjun

"If the issue comes up in Parliament, we don't anticipate any opposition from any of the allies," said Arjun.

Updated on: Sep 10, 2006 10:57 AM IST
None | By , Chennai
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The Centre does not foresee any problem in the implementation of the bill granting 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in elite educational institutes, Union Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh said on Sunday.

HT Image
HT Image

"If the issue comes up in Parliament, we don't anticipate any opposition from any of the allies," he told reporters after participating in a programme at IIT Madras.

Asked whether any dissension was noticed at the UPA coordination committee meeting on the issue of implementation of reservation for OBCs in IITs and IIMs, he said, "I did not see any noticeable dissent".

On PMK founder S Ramadoss's demand for implementing reservation in one go rather than staggering it, Singh said "the Union Cabinet had taken the decision in the matter and all parties in the UPA government had accepted it".

Later, after calling on Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Singh said, "We have introduced the bill on the basis of the decision taken at the Cabinet meeting."

Singh denied that the creamy layer concept was still included in the bill and explained that "including it in the Hindi version of the Bill had been a mistake".

During the half-an-hour-long meeting, he discussed with Karunanidhi the need for expanding the educational sphere, he said.

With institutes like the Indian Institute of Information Technology coming up in Chennai, it becomes absolutely essential to expand technical education, he said.

 
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