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 New Delhi, April 4: A study commissioned by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has come out in strong support of reservations for dalit Muslims (DMs) and dalit Christians (DCs). The detailed study has said that "there is a strong case for according Scheduled Caste status to dalit Muslims and Christians". Indeed, as the study says, "There is no compelling evidence to justify denying SC status to DMs and DCs." The study was done by Prof. Satish Deshpande of the department of sociology, Delhi School of Economics, along with Ms Geetika Bapna.
[Editor's Note: You can download the full study (1.1MB) at http://ncm.nic.in/pdf/report%20dalit%20%20reservation.pdf.] The suggestion should serve as a shot in the arm for those in favour of granting SC status to dalit Muslims and Christians. While there have been frequent demands from several Muslim and Christian leaders pressing for reservation for DMs and DCs, recent weeks have seen politicians too trying to elbow their way into the cause. For instance, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati recently wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding that dalit Muslims and Christians be granted reservation as their socio-economic status is no better than that of dalits belonging to other religions. Yet another dalit leader, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, too has expressed similar sentiments. While these two leaders clearly have an eye on the vote bank, the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Ranganath Misra (Retd) certainly wasn't governed by political considerations when it recommended that DMs and DCs be included in the reserved category. However, given the politically sensitive nature of this recommendation, the UPA government has chosen to sit on the report. Unwilling to stir the political cauldron, the government is yet to table the report, which was submitted almost a year ago in Parliament.
Both Christian and Muslim leaders, while seeking reservation for DCs and DMs, often draw upon the Scheduled Caste status granted to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist dalits to bolster their demand. It is noteworthy that dalit Sikhs were included in the reserved category through a 1956 presidential order. Then in 1999, dalit converts to Buddhism were included in the SC category. Why should not dalit Muslims and Christians too be included in the same category, the All-India Dalit Muslim and Christian Federation has often asked. The NCM-commissioned study has detailed the reasons for why there is a case for granting SC status to dalit Muslims and Christians. For instance, it has said, "DMs are unquestionably the worst off among all dalits, in both the rural and especially the urban sector." The study further notes that "DMs are completely absent in the affluent group for urban India". (Sourece: Howrah News Service dated 4 April 2008) |
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