New Delhi: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supported Tuesday the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill 2021, which allows allow states and Union Territories (UTs) to prepare their own lists of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs), and also sought amendment to Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006.
Speaking on behalf of the party in the Lok Sabha on the Constitution Bill 2021, BJD MP Ramesh Chandra Majhi said that the Odisha government has been running a number of schemes for backward classes. The state government has built more than 100 hostels for OBCs and taken several steps to provide better education to the children from the backward classes.
The Nabarangpur MP sought amendment to the Forest Rights Act (FRA) 2006. He said, “It is mandatory under the Act to provide proof of three generations to get land rights. But since the tribal people do not have these proofs, they are getting neither the land rights nor the benefits of schemes like MGNREGA, Biju Pucca Ghar Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana etc.”
The BJD MP also sought caste-wise census of OBCs to know their exact number. He said this would help the government formulate schemes for OBCs properly.
Significantly, the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021 amends Article 342 A and makes consequential amendments in Articles 338 B and 366 of the Indian Constitution.