SC ready to test reservation demand for dalit Christians and Muslims

SC ready to test reservation demand for dalit Christians and Muslims

TNN, Jan 22, 2011, 05.17am IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday framed questions to test the validity of the demand based on the Ranganath Misra Commission recommendation for inclusion of dalit Christians and Muslims in the scheduled caste list to avail quota in education and jobs.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar posted for February 24 final hearing on petitions challenging the Presidential Order of 1950 limiting reservation to dalits among Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists.

It also made the national commissions for minorities and scheduled castes parties to the pending petitions, issued notices and asked for their responses. The SC commission has said it had no objection to reservation given to dalit Muslims and Christians but had asked the Centre to ensure that it did not carve out quota for them from the existing 15% for SCs.

The government had said that any change to include dalits, who converted to Christianity and Islam -- both religions not recognising any caste-based division -- had to be left to Parliament and could not be done by courts.

Petitioner Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) argued through advocate Prashant Bhushan that the SC list should be prepared based on socio-economic conditions rather than on people's religion.

He asked: "How is it that a dalit Hindu, Sikh or a Buddhist is eligible for reservation but not a dalit Christian or Muslim? Is this not discrimination on the basis of religion which is prohibited under the Constitution?"

He said the Presidential Order of 1950 had originally envisaged reservation for dalit Hindus alone. In 1959, it included dalits from the Sikh community and then in 1990 Buddhists.

The questions framed by the highest court were:

* Whether a provision in Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, saying "no person who professes a religion different from Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste" is unconstitutional and void?

* Whether the existing reservation benefits to Scheduled Caste people professing a religion different from Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism can be diluted by extending them to dalit Christians and Muslims?

timesofindia . indiatimes . com/india/SC-ready-to-test-reservation-demand-for-dalit-Christians-and-Muslims/articleshow/7335516 . cms

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Over the time, the missionaries of Christianity and Islam have been successful in creating a propaganda that there are "Dalit Christians" or "Dalit Muslims. It is because they have found the system of caste-based reservation an obstacle in their way. Since some castes from Hinduism enjoy caste based quota in education and in jobs, they are reluctant to convert. Most of the missionary activities are done on the basis of some economical or other "rewards" for conversion, but the quota benefits actually counter such rewards as government jobs is a lucrative thing in India with lots of over-the-salary scope.

These missionary minded people were demanding education and job reservations even for the "converts" which was a hypocrisy because none of Christianity and Islam believes in "castes". In fact these two religions get "converts" mostly from the so called lower castes who chose to join them and end their "lower caste tag". And the missionaries too lure them by "selling" their "Religion with true equality". These guys had moved to the courts to demand quota for their converts too. Given that absolute power in India is in the hands of a Roman Catholic lady, and things have not been moving in the right way for Hindus so far, I fear - what is the future of this litigation?