Constitution (113th) Amendment Bill gets President’s Assent

Constitution (113th) Amendment Bill pertains to change of the entry of Oriya Language to Odiya in the 8th Schedule of Constitution of India.

• President Pratibha Patil has given her assent to the Orissa (the Alteration of Name) Bill and the Constitution(113th) Amendment Bill, already approved by both the houses of Parliament.
• With this assent, the spelling of the name of Orissa was changed to Odisha as an statutory act and its language from Oriya to Odiya in the 8th schedule of Constitution of India as a Constitutional amendment act.
• Orissa Assembly had passed a resolution unanimously on August 28, 2008 urging the Union government to correct the spelling of the name and language of the state misspelt in the first and eighth schedule of the Constitution.
  
  The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on November 9, 2010 and sent to Rajya Sabha for concurrence. The Upper House passed it with amendments on March 24, 2011 and returned it to the Lower House the same day.

  Altogether 301 members voted in favour of the Constitution Amendment Bill and none against.

What is the procedure of changing a name of a state?

• First of all a resolution is passed in the state assembly. This resolution once passed is forwarded to the central Government. By this, the state assembly (this means that the people of the state) authorizes the state government to place the matter before the Government of India for change of the name of the state. This change may also include the Hindi Translations of the name of the state.
• Article 3 has a proviso, which reads as follows:
  
  Provided that no Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President and unless, where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the States, the Bill has been referred by the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views thereon within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period as the President may allow and the period so specified or allowed has expired.
• As per this proviso,
  
  President refers the Bill to the Legislature of the State for expressing its views regarding the resolution. The Legislative Assembly of State after considering passed the Bill in context with the changing the name of the state and adopts the resolution agreeing with the Bill.
• After this has been done, a bill is introduced in the Parliament of India. When this bill is passed and gets president’s assent, it becomes a law and accordingly the following (some have been mentioned for your easiness with example of Orissa.) changes are required in the Constitution of India:
• The Schedule 1 will be changed. For example if Orissa becomes Odisha, the entry 10 in schedule 1 will be changed from Orissa to Odisha.
• Wherever the term "Orissa" has been used in the constitution, it will be changed for example Article 164.
• Entry in the Fourth Schedule is changed.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2011