The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed a bill to operationalise the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh, and the exchange of certain enclaves of land between the two countries.


The Constitution (One Hundred and Nineteenth Amendment) Bill, 2013 was unanimously passed by the upper house, with 180 votes in favour and zero against it.


The Bill to operationalise the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh was on Tuesday cleared by the Union Cabinet and now includes territories in Assam along with those in West Bengal, Tripura and Meghalaya.


Highly placed sources said government has already talked to various parties in the Upper House, where an earlier bill in this regard is pending since December 2013.

 
Government had earlier proposed to bring the bill in Lok Sabha, but faced stiff opposition from the opposition that wanted that territories in Assam be included in it.


The inclusion of Assam territories in the Bill indicates government's resolve to get the legislation cleared after bringing all parties on board.


Government will bring the Constitutional Amendment Bill for ratification of the Land Boundary Agreement with Bangladesh. It would require ratification of at least 50 per cent of the state legislatures before it comes into effect. The clearing of the Bill by Union Cabinet comes a day after the top leadership of BJP and RSS discussed the bill with its Assam leaders and decided to include the territories pertaining to the state.