New Delhi: A government-appointed
Commission has recommended 10 per cent reservation for Muslims
and five per cent for other minorities in government jobs and
favoured Scheduled Caste status for Dalits in all religions.
The report of the National Commission for Religious and
Linguistic Minorities, headed by former Chief Justice of India
Rangnath Mishra, was tabled by Minority Affairs Minister
Salman Khurshid in the Lok Sabha today.
Among a host of recommendations, the Commission
recommends delinking of Scheduled Caste status from religion
and abrogation of the 1950 Scheduled Caste Order which "still
excludes Muslims, Christians, Jains and Parsis from the SC
net."
The Order originally restricted the SC status to Hindus
only but was later opened it to Buddhists and Sikhs.
With regard to quota, the Commission says that 10 per
cent should be reserved for Muslims and five per cent for
other minorities in central and state government jobs in all
cadre and grades.
It added that in case of non-availability of Muslims to
fill the 10 per cent earmarked seats, these may be made
available to other minorities but in "no case" shall any seat
within the recommended 15 per cent shall be given to anybody
from the majority community.
Member Secretary of the Commission Asha Das has, however,
given a note of dissent on the the Commission`s recommendation
for conferment of SC status on Dalit converts to Christianity
and Islam saying there was "no justification" for it.
Besides, she has said that as Dalit converts to
Christianity/Islam do not qualify for inclusion as SCs, they
should continue to form part of OBCs and avail facilities and
reservations given to the OBCs until a comprehensive list of
Socially and Educationally Backward (SEB) is prepared.
The Commission has, however, rejected the contentions
made by Das in the dissent note and said "(we) firmly stand by
every word of the recommendations, we have made under this
term of reference."
The Commission also suggested an alternative route for
reservation to minorities if there is "insurmountable
difficulty" in implementing the recommendation for 15
reservation.
In this regard it said since minorities constitute 8.4
percent of the total OBC population according to the Mandal
Commission report so in the 27 percent OBC quota, an 8.4
percent sub quota should be earmarked for minorities.
The internal break-up should be 6 percent for the
Muslims, commensurate with their 73 percent share in the total
minority population at the national level and 2.4 percent for
other minorities.
Besides it has recommended that the reservation now
extended to the Scheduled Tribes, which is a religion neutral
class, should be carefully examined to assess the extent of
minority presence in it and take remedial measures.
The Commission noted that the minorities especially the
Muslims are very much under-represented and sometimes wholly
unrepresented in government jobs.
The report of the National Commission for Religious and
Linguistic Minorities headed by former Chief Justice of India
Rangnath Mishra, is considered a step ahead of Sachchar
Committee report that went into the backwardness of minorities
mainly Muslims.
The Commission, was notified in October 2004 and began
functioning in 2005. Two years later, it submitted its report
to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in May 2007.
There were consistent demands from other parties except
BJP for tabling the report in Parliament and implement its
recommendations. A number of MPs from different parties had
also demanded that the government should come out with Action
Taken Report (ATR) on it.
However, Khurshid had made it clear that ATR was not
mandatory as the particular Commission was not constituted
under the Commission of Enquiry Act.
The Terms of Condition (ToR) for the Commission were for
identifying socially, economically and backward classes among
religious and linguistic minorities and suggesting measures of
welfare for minorities including reservation.
The Commission held that a uniform approach towards
socially and economically backward needs to be evolved, which
should not be based on caste, class or religion so that social
justice and equity can be guaranteed to all.
"Ideally, there should be no distinction on the basis of
caste, religion or class. There should be single List of
socially and economically backward including religious and
linguistic minorities based on common criteria," it observed.
Welcoming the recommendations of the Commission, RJD
chief Lalu Prasad threatened an agitation if the government
failed to implement them.
He said he had raised the demand for tabling the report
in Parliament umpteen times when he was Railway Minister in
the UPA-I.
"We were the ones, who had got the recommendations of
Mandal Commission implemented. Minorities have negligible
presence in government jobs since independence. Hence the
recommendation for Ranganth Mishra Commission must be
implemented," Prasad said.
He also dismissed suggestions that the Commission report
is a move to woo Muslims and said social justice and communal
harmony are foundations of the country.
PTI
