Assam’s fate will be decided by JPC today

Assam fate will be decided by the Joint Parliamentary Committee(JPC) on the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) today as it will discuss it clause by clause for the final time as members will also submit amendment.

The final report will be submitted on December 5 as the winter session of the Parliament open on December 11.

The CAB is expected to be passed at Lok Sabha by the end of the winter session but it will not be a law as it would be blocked at the Upper House.

The joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, on November 20 extended the date for receiving suggestions for amendments from its own members till November 27.

The committee was supposed to receive suggestions for amendments to the bill from its members on Tuesday and discuss the bill clause by clause to prepare its report.

A section of the committee members, however, did not submit suggestions, saying they did not receive any notification in this regard from the committee's chairman Rajendra Agrawal.

A member of the committee told media from New Delhi that it wanted to go ahead with its clause-by-clause discussion with whatever suggestions it had received from its members. But the members who did not receive the notice opposed it. After a two-hour meeting, the committee decided to extend the date. It is planning to submit its report to the Centre before the winter session of Parliament which will begin on December 11. It has decided on December 5 or 6 as a tentative date for submitting the report.