The Assembly on Monday passed the Bihar Joint Entrance Competition Examination (Amendment) Bill, 2013, which gives the government powers to hold separate exams for filling up seats in agriculture colleges that fall vacant after successful candidates opt for medical and engineering.

Nitish Kumar announced Rs 2,500 monthly scholarship for students taking admission in veterinary, dairy and agriculture engineering.

On the other hand, a call attention by Independent MLA Pawan Kumar Jaiswal on the withdrawal of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from Bihar created an uproar in the Assembly on Monday.

Jaiswal said two CRPF battalions, deployed in six Maoist-hit districts of north Bihar, including East Champaran and Muzaffarpur, had been withdrawn from the state. “I have a petition of over 300 panchayat members in East Champaran declaring that they feel unsafe after the withdrawal of CRPF,” he added, urging the state government to ask the Centre to prevent the withdrawal. He alleged that the difference between the home principal secretary and the director-general of police had led to the move.”

Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary, in his capacity as the home minister in-charge, said the state government had not even been informed about the withdrawal and expressed helplessness over the issue. Siddiqui asked the minister if the state government had written a protest letter to the home ministry in the matter. The minister remained silent over Siddiqui’s question even as the latter offered to be a part of an all-party delegation to Delhi to demand that CRPF forces stay in Bihar.

Congress leader Sadanand Singh supported Siddiqui. Even as Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary declared that the government had taken cognisance of the MLAs’ feelings, RJD members entered the well of the House and then staged a walkout.