Srinagar, April 2 -- Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju moved a motion to take up the Bill with amendments, initiating a debate on the matter. Rijiju opened the discussion by outlining the key provisions of the legislation. Originally introduced last year, the Bill was later referred to a joint parliamentary committee for review.

Introducing the bill, Rijiju said the consultation process of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was the largest ever exercise carried out by a parliamentary panel in India's democratic history.

He said over 97.27 lakh petitions, memorandums were received by the JPC through physical and online formats and the JPC had gone through each of them before finalising its report.

The minister said as many as ...