Speaker Sumitra Mahajan says the Quota bill answers a key question her kids used to ask her, hails bill's passage in Lok Sabha

The speaker of the house may be an ever-present when it comes to the lengthy debate and discussion that precedes the passage (or non-passage) of a bill in Parliament, but it's not often that one really takes into cognisance their own views on a topic. This isn't the case for Sumitra Mahajan as far as the Reservation Constitutional Amendment bill is concerned.

The Lok Sabha Speaker was the one who convened the voting on the bill, with the bill eventually being passed near unanimously by those MPs who were present in the house at the time. While leaving Parliament, Sumitra Mahajan was asked about her views on the bill, and she was effusive in her happiness.

The BJP MP said that she felt good it had been passed, recounting how her children used to ask her about such matters and were clearly of the view that microeconomic factors should also be a criteria for reservations and not only caste.

She said that many of these questions had been answered on Tuesday and projected that it'll be very beneficial in the long run.

The 124th Constitution Amendment may have been passed by the Lok Sabha, but that was always on the cards given the government's majority in the lower house. What remains to be seen, however, is whether the bill will also be passed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The bill increases the reservation quota in government jobs and education from the current 50% (prescribed by the Supreme Court) to 60%, with the additional 10% to be availed by Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) belonging to the general category across religions. The government has said that legal challenges if any will be defeated in a court of law.

The Prime Minister also hailed the bill's passage, putting forth that it represents the government's principle of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'.