The Experimentative State
Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table: she opened it, and found in it a very small cake, on which the words `EAT ME' were beautifully marked in currants. `Well, I'll eat it,' said Alice, `and if it makes me grow larger, I can reach the key; and if it makes me grow smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden, and I don't care which happens!'
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Recently, the Centre appointed a commission
headed by retired Supreme Court judge K. G. Balakrishnan to “examine the matter
of giving Scheduled Caste (SC) status to” converted people. Article 341 of the
Constitution of India provides that the President may, by public notification
specify castes, races, tribes or groups thereof, which will be deemed to be
Scheduled Castes for the purposes of the Constitution. Accordingly, a
Presidential Order was issued in 1950, clause 3 of which specifies that the
status of SC be restricted only to people professing Hindu religion. The clause
was amended to include people professing Sikh (1956) and Buddhist (1990)
religions respectively. It is noteworthy that for the purposes of the Hindu
Code, a set of laws governing marriage, succession, adoptions, guardianship etc
of Hindus, people professing both the Sikh and Buddhist religions are
considered Hindus.
Various arguments are made to the effect that the status being restricted only to some religions is discriminatory on its face. It is also argued that when the state is prevented from extending reservation on the basis of religion, it cannot restrict reservation on the same basis. Christian and Muslim organisations have long made demands that their converted members from these classes be given benefits of reservation. The issue is also sub judice before the Supreme Court. Centre for Public Interest Litigation, an NGO had filed proceeding about it there. In the last hearing, Tushar Mehta, the Solicitor General had submitted that he would place the government’s stand regarding the contentions of the petitioners on record. The government is yet to do that, but the appointment of a Commission is a clear step taken by the government. The Commission is set up, amongst other objectives, to collect definitive data about the social and economic conditions faced by the converted Muslims and Christians who belong to the so called lower castes.
There have been attempts in the past to deal with the issues of these people. The government had set up the National Commission for Religious & Linguistic Minorities. Better known as the Rangnath Mishra Commission, one of its recommendations was the total deletion of clause 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 and make the Scheduled Castes religion neutral like Scheduled Tribes. Another was to earmark 15 per cent seats in non-Minority educational institutions for the minorities. It was another recommendation of the Commission that 8.4 per cent of OBC quota should be reserved for the minorities with a sub quota of 6 per cent for Muslims, proportionate to their share in the overall minority population.
A high powered committee was set up by the Centre in 2005 to study the social, educational and economic status of the Muslim community in India. There have been other committees and commissions which have found that the Christian and Muslim Dalit converts are socially, educationally and economically backward. The first National Commission for Backward Classes (the Kalelkar Commission), the Mandal Commission, the parliamentary committee headed by Elayaperumal are some instances. The high powered committee set up by the National Commission of Minorities, led by Satish Deshpande was the latest such exercise. What, then, is the need to appoint another commission, is the argument of some of those seeking SC status for castes from all religions.
With the exception of the Mandal Commission, recommendations of almost all of the said committees and commissions were not followed by the government. As with all matters related to reservations, the acceptance of the recommendation to extend reservation to the OBCs was criticised as being more of a political gambit for those times than an effort at social reform. The recommendations, particularly those related to reservation are a difficult prescription to follow and implement. The issue of grant of SC status to converts to other religions assumes significance only because of the conundrum of reservation attached to the status.
Benefits which the SCs enjoy include reservation in promotions, local self government as well as seats in the Parliament and state legislatures. Apart from these, they also get free education and concessions in almost all sorts of dues. Special incentives and programs are designed exclusively for SCs, including scholarships as well as “loads of benefits” including grant of agricultural land at government expense. The desire to be included in the SCs is also influenced by the protection against atrocities in the form of entitlement to the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
The move to appoint the K G Balkrishnan Commission has been met with scepticism. The demand for the new inclusion has been met with vehement objections by many sections. Vishva Hindu Parishad has stated that it will participate in the consultation process to be undertaken by the Commission. Its stand is that the Abrahamic religions which claim to have no concept of caste should not get the benefits of provisions for those who have “historically been deprived on the basis of their castes.”
The government stand, as declared in the Parliament, even after the clarity afforded by the Constitution Order, 1950 is that the Dalits who had converted to Christianity or Islam would not be allowed to take benefit of reservation as SCs. The press notification mentions that the BJP “has been opposed to” the demand for inclusion of Christian/Muslim Dalits in the SCs. The issue is further complicated by pronouncements by the Courts in the past. According to one such Court observation, “ . . . the general rule is that conversion operates as an expulsion from the caste, or, in other words, because caste is a predominantly a feature of the Hindu society and ordinarily a person who ceases to be a Hindu would not be regarded by other members of the caste as belonging to their fold.” These judgments imply that once a person renounces Hindu faith to join Islam or Christianity, they do not belong to any caste and as such should not get the benefits of SC category.
As with all other emotive issues in India, this too is packed with incendiary potential. While there have been demands to include Muslim and Christian Dalits in the SC since the time of framing of the Constitution, the government has rejected these demands. The situation is also peculiar because there is a sea of difference between the Christian and Muslim Dalit communities. As a class, Christians are better educated, whereas Muslims form a bulk of the illiterate class. Many sections in the Christian Dalit community, particularly those considered from the so called higher castes are educationally sophisticated as they live in urban areas. Allowing them the benefits of reservation would give them undue benefit over other SC groups, it is thought.
Conclusion of Part I
© Adv. Shrirang Choudhary
No comments:
Post a Comment