Religion, Caste And Tribe Based Reservation - 4

[Guest]

<b>Finally, Govt acts on Sachar report</b>
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070517/211/6fw7q.html

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Commission for religious & linguistic minorities gives report</b> 
zeenews.com
New Delhi, May 21: The National Commission for linguistic and religious minorities on Monday submitted its report on the criteria for identifying socially and educationally backward classes among minorities to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

<b>Commission Chairman Justice Ranganath Misra and members professor Tahir Mahmood and Mohinder Singh </b>met the PM and formally presented him the two-volume report.

The commission had begun its work in March 2005 and its mandate was to suggest <b>criteria for identifying socially and educationally backward classes among the minorities and recommend possible welfare measures, including reservation in educational institutions and government employment.</b>

It was also supposed to give its views on the <b>demand of Muslims and Christians for the inclusion of their backward sections among the schedules castes.</b>

Though the commission's term expired on May 15, the report could not be submitted on time as the Prime Minister could not give time for its earlier due to his pre-occupation in Parliament, an official release today said.  <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Meira Ministry to oppose reservation for minorities  </b>
Pioneer.com
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi
'Quota within quota will harm SC interests'
The Centre's move to get quota within quota for <b>Dalit Christians and OBC Muslims </b>may face fierce opposition from within the Government. The discordant voices have begun doing rounds in the corridors of the key Ministry dealing with the Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment headed by Meira Kumar is opposed to any attempt to tamper with the 15 per cent quota for SCs in Government jobs and academic institutions to accommodate Dalits among Muslims. "The Ministry is of the view that the Government should separately earmark quota for such a group. The quota within quota would be detrimental to the interests of SCs," a Ministry source said. 

"There is, in fact, need to increase the SC quota to 16.23 per cent in proportion to their population. Since long, the Ministry has been advocating this. It is not being done as the Centre needs to amend the Constitution to remove the Supreme Court ceiling of 50 per cent on quota," he said.

The National Commission for Linguistic and Religious Minorities headed by Justice Ranganath Misra, has recommended 'quota within quota' for<b> OBC and Dalit Muslims.</b>

The proposal has been severely criticised by the different political parties, pleading that religion-based quota was against the spirit of the Constitution.

<b>Currently, OBCs, SCs and STs get 27, 15 and 7.5 per cent quota in the Government jobs respectively</b>. The OBCs consist of both the Hindu and non-Hindu castes, which were identified as socially, educationally and economically backward by the BP Mandal Commission. The SCs and STs have quota in the Government academic institutions as well.

<b>"Most of the OBC and SC ministers in the UPA Government are opposed to accommodate Muslims in the existing arrangements. The Government would have to work out some other mechanism to get quota for them separately by amending the Constitution to vacate the SC order on 50 per cent ceiling or removing the barrier of religion from being the Scheduled Castes,"</b> an official said.

The Ranganath Misra Commission has recommended that in the 27 per cent OBC quota, an 8.4 per cent sub-quota be earmarked for the minorities with an internal break-up of 6 per cent for Muslims and 2.4 per cent for other minorities. In the case of non-Dalits, they should be accorded the status of Scheduled Castes and Tribes <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Dalit Christians are really suffering they should revert back to Hindusim. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<b>Minority quota within a week: TN CM</b>
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070527/211/6gbdo.html

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>A fallout of quota politics </b>
pioneer.com
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi
The Gujjar violence in Rajasthan is the manifestation of lopsided benefits of quota percolating among the targeted groups. Tuesday's skirmishes could be the tip of the unrest brewing in many States.

The socially, economically and educationally better off among other backward castes, SCs and STs have been the major beneficiary of quota, while the less mortals among them stand left out even after years of quota facility.

<b>"In Rajasthan, Gujjars, currently treated as other backward classes, want to be clubbed with Meenas, Scheduled Tribes to whom they are socially much closer, but find themselves at the receiving end when it comes to availing the quota benefits.</b> Meenas are the key beneficiary of quota not only in the State services but also at the Centre," a Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry official said.

Since the Gujjars have to face stiff competition from other backward classes, mainly Yadavs, Jats, Kushwahas and other castes, they feel that their inclusion in the list of STs would help them reap quota benefits.

There is unrest even among a section of Meenas to exclude the creamy layer among them from the ambit of quota. They have even petitioned the office of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to ensure 'equity' in the distribution of quota benefits among them.

The PMO referred the representation from the Akhil Bharatiya Meena Sangh (ABMS) to the Social Justice and Empowered (SJ&E) Ministry for appropriate action. In the petition, <b>the Sangh claimed that 90 per cent Meenas have not been able to reap the benefits of quota as the rich among them usurp their share.</b>

"Without excluding the creamy layer from the ambit of quota, the dream of social justice cannot be realised," Sangh president Rambhajan Meena has stated in the petition to the PMO.

A similar fight is already going on between Malas and Madigas, the two powerful SC groups, in Andhra Pradesh. The Madigas have accused Malas of usurping the share of other SC groups in the Government jobs in the State. The Madigas are the majority Scheduled Castes group in the State with 68-lakh population after the Malas, but their presence in the Government jobs is not in proportion to their population.

The Centre has now set up a one-member commission headed by Justice Usha Mehra, retired judge of Delhi High Court, to look into the matter and suggest ways to end the row.

The inequitable distribution of quota is viewed as a major stumbling block in filling up the seats of 27, 15 and 7.5 per cent earmarked for OBCs, SCs and STs respectively. As per the latest national data with the Ministry, SCs account for only 11.93 per cent in Group A services against the quota of 15 per cent. OBCs representation in the central Group A and B services is less than 5 per cent.
 
"A few castes from OBCs, SCs and STs cannot make the quota earmarked for them. <b>Only Meenas cannot account for 7.5 per cent of ST quota unless other tribes are also allowed to reap its benefits. It is true in the case of SCs and OBCs as well, where benefits are restricted only to a few castes," </b>a Ministry official said.

The overall representation of STs in Group A and B services stands at 4.18 and 4.32 per cent respectively. Their representation in Group C Central Government services is a bit better at 6.96 per cent against 7.5 per cent quota.
 
<b>The tribal dominated States like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have produced just a single IAS officer in the past six years</b>. It is even worse in the case of engineering services where none of the tribal aspirants from these States could manage to get through while in<b> Combined Medical Services Examination, one ST candidate could get a job a year</b>.

According to Census 2001, Scheduled Tribes form 31.8 per cent of the total population of Chhattisgarh, 20.3 per cent in Madhya Pradesh and 26.3 per cent in Jharkhand. The number of triabls from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in civil services has been quite abysmal during the past five years.

As per the data of DOPT, just two tribals could get through IAS from Jharkhand between 2000 to 2005, while in other elite services such as IPS, IRS, IFS and other grade one Central services, no tribal candidate from Jharkhand could get a single posting in these services.

In the Central Engineering Services, just a single tribal candidate from Madhya Pradesh got a job during the past five years. In Medical Services Examination too, four candidates from Jharkhand got through during the past five years
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Moron Singh's policies are paying dividend. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
exclusion of the creamy layer is against DMK and PMK genius thinking.
Moron Singh can't understand simple straight logic.

[Guest]

link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>What’s the politics around this </b>
• Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje promised ST status while campaigning for the Assembly polls in 2003

• Says Sachin Pilot, Congress MP from Dausa: “The administration has been totally callous. It set up a high-powered committee to look into the question of ST status for Gurjjars one-and-a-half years ago, but the panel has not even been notified yet. Even the state ministers supposed to be on it don’t know whether the committee exists”

<b>Why is Gurjjar demand such a hot potato </b>
• Meenas, the only ST at present, finding their pie cut into, might want to migrate to SC category

• Cascading effect of this as other groups may similarly demand recategorisation

<b>What is at stake</b>
• Meena-Jat-Gurjjar social fabric under strain. Faultlines already visible among communities. Whispers among Gurjjars that Meena officials ordered firing on the Gurjjar demonstrators on Tuesday

<b>How do you decide on ST </b>
• After a representation. Centre asks State and Census Commissioner, whose Anthropological Wing checks on characteristics of group: distinct culture, remoteness, absence of caste, dialect

• Not so easy. In 1981, Rajasthan govt recommended ST status for Gaddia Lohars and Vanjaras. Until now, this hasn’t been done<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Look at, people are dying to be called "Dalit" or SC, even they are not.
Who says they are abused?

[ramana]

From HT, 1 June 2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->It's not easy to give ST status to Gujjars:
Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times

New Delhi, June 01, 2007
First Published: 21:01 IST(1/6/2007)
Last Updated: 21:24 IST(1/6/2007) 


<b>The demand of Gujjars for inclusion in the scheduled tribe list may not be easy to meet for the Rajasthan government,</b> constitutional experts say.

<b>Rajasthan government had examined a similar demand by Gujjars about 25 years ago and rejected it stating that the community does not fulfill the grounds for inclusion in the scheduled tribes list.  </b>

The Dhebar Commission constituted in 1960 had recommended a few conditions for identification of tribals. <b>They were geographic isolation, distinct cultural relation, shyness of contact from the main community, economic backwardness, distinct language or dialect and non existence of a caste system. The British had used similar methodology for identification of tribal areas and tribes in early 1930s.</b>

<b>But, in 1960s the Gujjars in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir were found to fulfill the criteria and were given ST status. "They were given the status as they were nomadic cattle breeder and not agriculturalists,</b>" said Shankar of Campaign for Survival and Dignity, an NGO working for tribal rights.

<b>Experts say that Gujjars in Haryana, Delhi or Rajasthan are distinctively different</b> from Gujjars in Himachal and Kashmir. <b>"Here the Gujjars are agriculture based," </b>said a former secretary of Government of India, who was not willing to be quoted.

PS Krishnan, advisor on reservation in the HRD ministry, said, "scheduled tribes are identified in terms of certain traits of tribal and cultural features. Wrong inclusion of a community will harm genuine ST and it should not be done".

That does not mean end of the road for Gujjars, who feel alienated among OBCs. <b>Gujjars are pleading that because of their social and educational backwardness they were not able to benefit from 27 per cent reservation meant for all OBCs.</b> And, hence, want ST status, because very few tribes are in the ST list in Rajasthan.

Krishnan, however, offered a different solution. <b>Like many southern states, he said, the Rajasthan government can categorise OBC reservation. By that, he meant, that 27 per cent seats for OBCs can be further divided into categories of backward and most backwards based on their population within the community. </b>

In that case, Gujjars can get most backward class status, thus making it easier for them to take benefit of reservation. "Any agitation cannot be a criteria for establishing a case for inclusion in the ST list," he said.

Since Dhebar Commission categorisation not many major tribes have been included in the ST list. Mostly sub-tribes of a major tribe that is already in the list were included.

Legal experts like Senior Advocate KTS Tulsi, however, said the final decision has to be taken by the government. "Giving ST status is the job of the government and not of the courts," he said.

Recently, the Supreme Court had stayed the government’s move to provide 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in higher education seeking the basis for identifying backwardness of the communities identified as OBCs. The court also questioned the government’s plea that the 1931 caste based census was the basis to identify the classes for OBC reservation.

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[Guest]

They should stop reservation based on caste/last name and creamy layer. In place of checking 1930 or 1960 data, they should check 2000 data.
Problem is who will tie bell around Ramadoss, Arjun Singh, Queen and DMK.

Meena is very dominating caste in Rajasthan Admin. Gujjars are also well off.
Same problem is with Yadav and Jatavs. Yadavs are everywhere.

[Guest]

Confused over pronunciation.

Different TV channels are using:

Gurjar

Gujjar

Goojar

Here in Himachal and J&K it is Gujjar.

I used to think that Bhils were the main tribals in Rajasthan because of the Rana Pratap story......where are they placed in the hierarchy nowadays?

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I used to think that Bhils were the main tribals in Rajasthan because of the Rana Pratap story......where are they placed in the hierarchy nowadays?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
In reality, according to defination Bheels should be in ST, but they are granted SC status. Now NGOs like AID and other regulars are using them for conversion, basically they started refering them Dalit and then calling them non-Hindus.
link

Gujjars of J&K or Himachal are nomadic people.

<b>The Dausa Effect </b>
<i>Pratap Bhanu Mehta
The writer is president, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi </i>
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/32281._.html

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Jun 2 2007, 09:08 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Jun 2 2007, 09:08 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The Dausa Effect </b>
<i>Pratap Bhanu Mehta
The writer is president, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi </i>
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/32281._.html
[right][snapback]69674[/snapback][/right]
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From the above article:

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Our classifications have become absurd from the point of view of social justice. It is fatuous to think that there are some ‘objective’ facts of the matter that can determine why Meenas should be ST, but Gurjjars not. <b>In fact the whole historical process by which communities like Meenas went from high caste, to “criminal tribe” in the British sense, to ST, is an object lesson in how the state has used identities for its own purposes.</b> The only antidote is a politics of justice centred on a radically new paradigm of how we understand deprivation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

The root of our problems has been British rule, formation of caste organizations, Mandal, and of course Weepy Singh.

[Guest]

<!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo--> Analyses

The Gujar uprising is just the tip of the iceberg of social discontentment in our society despite all the contraptions applied by successive post Independence governments to assuage the aspirations of different communities. This because our politics is dishonest and survives on creating not removing inequities to gain purely from the advantage of the moment, a sign of renegade leadership material. The key to the problem lies in education. Ever since independence disparities have continued to widen in opportunities and income generating capacity entirely on account of inequity in education the only route to progress and mobility. This responsibility of the State to the people was cleverly circumvented first by relegating education as a state subject in a disparate regional makeup and then pursuing a dubious colonial policy of continuing with English language as a tool for progress selectively in favour of a small segment which had served the English masters well by running their machinery. This machinery was never overhauled but simply handed over to new Indian masters as other institutions were, with the same floor management. The rural which meant Gujars, Jats, Ahirs, Rajputs etc had been simply left to their devices and meant to provide cannon fodder and food for the realm. Learning was not in their itinerary in the British Raj. One reason was that it was these peasants who carried out the 1857 uprising and the British did not want this element to progress with education at their hands. There was no change after the British left. That English should remain under any guise was in interest of both who continued to run the establishments and the brand of politicians who took charge. Short sighted and feeble they simply sidelined the language question. The issue of the national language or even languages which should have replaced English and thus brought the rural in mainstream of learning and knowledge was actually jettisoned sowing the seeds of class war we see today. Nonetheless a national language had to be declared for self esteem and Hindi was. But Hindi remained confined to a mere declared status, a token gesture, saw no development but bogus lip service through statements, celebration days and sign postings in offices. Notional as Ministers would appear once a year over the radio and exhort people to use Hindi, an oddity for a people to be reminded about their national language not seen anywhere else on the globe. Even after six decades plus we have yet no professional or scientific/technological education in Hindi or regional languages to open opportunities for the rural. Today competitive competence building is exclusively in English thus confined only to the urban and acutely in hands of private operators making education out of reach for the common citizen. The reservation policy itself seems perfectly fitted to deflecting the ground effects of the language debacle by promising jobs selectively without competition and learning, thereby further nourishing conflicts and throwing merit by the board. The ramifications of this folly are only accentuated by globalisation as English gets entrenched to serve market economy reducing education to narrow band and rendering National language yet more redundant. In fact urban children seem no longer to have any mother tongue, being groomed in English a strange phenomenon for any nation. The manifestation of wrath by one after the other segment of rural classes is thus natural the cumulative effect of denial of equal and uniform education to successive generations of marginalised majority. The colonial formula of divide and rule becomes handy with our politicians, applied as in a snakes and ladder game. Those who have secured their reservations are unleashed against those threatening to cut their shares. The system must head for a glut as more communities hanker for reservations and jobs are saturated. Jobs are in any case getting scarcer in public sector with exponential increase in private sector which will not accept without merit. The final showdown is yet to come but is not far away as the farm sector is squeezed further and reckless SEZs dislocate the unskilled peasant classes. The trend and route are obvious. Ask for a climb down in caste hierarchy and get economic benefits. The long term effects of this will be snow balling inviting more cataclysm. But all seem to be missing the wood for the trees. In the long run there is no alternative to survival but equal and uniform education for all, in stages first with proportionate reservations for marginalized communities in all professional and academic schools of learning not in jobs. Education has to be mobilized on war footing dispersed across the rural hinterland. The private sector has to pitch in with reciprocity by training and absorbing dislocated peasantry or prepare for the worst. There can be no progress without peace and no peace without harmony. While Jats have already secured the ST status in Rajasthan why Mr Takhait should be backing the Gujars there. The answer is clear that Jats are readying to seek ST status in UP too. Not their fault, its every one on his own, the survival of the fittest, a failure in governance which has not been able to dispense justice its primary institutional role. Amidst the entire fracas the fear is about resorting to the army in aid to civil authority for a very unpalatable and avoidable role, an employment which could lead to alienating it from its own people. Gujars are a military community too with considerable representation in the infantry. We should give no cause for generating quiet resentment and angst among them and their comrades on account of what is clearly a political problem the consequences of which should be the responsibility of civil law and order machinery. The Army is virtually becoming a fire fighting outfit which should be worrying

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Quota blowback </b>
Pioneer.com
CP Bhambhri
It is the creamy layer of reserved castes which grabs the benefits of reservation, leaving the deserving high and dry

The Pandora's Box of reservation has been reopened by the violent agitation launched by the Rajasthan Gujjar Sangharsh Samiti. The Gujjar community in Rajasthan, till now classified as OBC, is up in arms against the Vasundhara Raje Government, demanding it be reclassified as Scheduled Tribe. The Gujjars believe they will benefit more from reservation under the ST category than as OBC.

The ongoing struggle of the Gujjar community has reopened the contentious issue of caste-based reservation in public institutions. All political parties have promoted caste-based reservation for winning elections on the basis of a guaranteed support from a specific social constituency. The best illustration of political consensus on the policy of extensions of caste-based reservation in public institutions is provided by the 93rd Constitutional Amendment on the basis of which a parliamentary law has been enacted in 2006 to provide 27.5 per cent reservation to OBC candidates in Union Government-aided institutions of higher learning.

<b>The policy of caste-based reservation has become an instrument in the hands of politicians to win over caste-based support. During the last 60 years, the process of including more and more castes in the category of reserved category has become an unstoppable phenomenon,</b> thanks to unique political consensus on the issue. Every political party is deeply involved in it. Former Prime Minister VP Singh played this game in August 1990 when he announced the acceptance of the Mandal Commission's report, recommending quota for the backward castes in public services.

The logic of reservation is at work. The Vasundhara Raje Government is caught in a difficult situation. <b>If the demand of the Gujjar community is accepted, her political opponents will instigate some other caste group for some other demand. If politicians are the originator and patroniser of a contentious and extremely divisive political problem, solutions have to found by them</b>.

Another irrefutable argument against caste-based reservation has been provided by the Supreme Court while hearing an appeal against the implementation of reservation of seats in the Educational Institutions Act, 2006, by asking the Government about the deletion of 'creamy layer' from the category of reserved seats. Incidentally, the apex court had prohibited the 'creamy layer' category for reservation in public services while hearing a case against the Mandal Commission recommendations.

The policy of reservation is, in reality, not meant for the needy, deprived and economically handicapped social groups, but for the elite among the castes described as "backward". The backward strata of society deserve special concessions, attention and financial aid to come out of their low economic status.

It is the duty of a democratic state, especially in a country of great inequalities, to undertake specific public policies by targeting the really economically and educationally deprived sections of society. Public policies should be formulated to uplift the poor from their existing status of deprivation by opening special schools for them. Besides, a public policy based on a scheme of scholarship for primary, secondary and higher education is needed.

Tamil Nadu is the headquarters of the reservation policy. The major Dravidian parties are even against the limit of 50 per cent reservation of seats, as decided by the Supreme Court. They want an amendment to the Constitution to remove any ceiling over percentage of quota in public institutions.

Tamil Nadu has been ruled by powerful 'intermediate castes' for the last 40 years. These castes, while in power, have been extending the scope of reservation for their own caste fraternity. It is not without reason that the DMK, alongwith 'backward caste' leaders of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, have been spearheading the movement for OBC reservation in education institutions.

Caste-based reservation is a logical extension of cast-based politics. The consequence of this phenomenon is that Indians society is completely fragmented. Today, Gujjars are just following in the footsteps of Jats. Policy of reservation has institutionalised the caste system because Governments have put their seal of approval on multiple caste identities.

Caste-based reservation creates a monolith category of a specific caste, while the reality is that such a category is artificially constructed by politicians. The poor cut across caste or communal lines and do not get benefits of reservation because the creamy layer of every caste grabs the benefits of reservation. <b>The elite is the real beneficiary of reservation. </b>
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[Guest]

SC had hinted at possible caste war
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Following are the extracts from that interim order:
<b>It has also to be noted that nowhere else in the world do castes, classes or communities queue up for the sake of gaining backward status. </b>

<b>Nowhere else in the world is there competition to assert backwardness and then to claim we are more backward than you. </b>

It is a settled legal position that the state is constitutionally empowered to enact affirmative-action measures to uplift backward classes. And, no one would protest the needy getting reservation, be it in employment or education.

If that is the general mindset, why politicise inclusion and non-inclusion of castes and classes in the lists of SCs, STs and OBCs — increasingly viewed as bonanza by the creamy layer among the backward communities.

In fact, the apex court had warned, "<b>Differentiation or classification for special preference must not be unduly unfair for the persons left out of the favoured groups.</b>" This means, the policy of reservation cannot be and should not be intended to be permanent or perpetuate backwardness at the cost of general category communities.

Only when the reservation policy changes its focus — from votebank politics to helping out the needy among backwards to stand on their feet — will we see less of the competition to be included in the most beneficial category to reap quota benefits. And, less of blood that is being spilled on the streets, as is being done by Gujjars and Meenas in Rajasthan.

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[Guest]

<b>Race to the bottom: Low Indian caste violently demands to be considered even lower</b>
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070604/210/6gn4c.html

[Guest]

from above link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> "<b>I am a farmer and I am poor," said Rajesh Gurjjar, 26, his thin T-shirt soaked with sweat a few minutes after police chased him off a main thoroughfare in New Delhi's suburb of Gurgaon on Monday.

"I want a government job. It pays more. The office is cool in summer. The fields are too hot."

In other words, the fastest way up India's modern economic ladder is a quick step down its age-old social ladder</b>.

...........
India's 160 million dalits have no caste, and for centuries been viewed as "pollutants." To this day, many are forced to live in separate villages, prohibited from drawing water at wells used by other Hindus, and often subjected to violent abuse.

It's this group the Gujjars want to join.

"Our people have not benefited from India's economic growth. Most Gujjars are herders. They live in huts on the hills. This is a matter of survival," said Bharat Tanwar, 30, who joined a small, peaceful protest Friday in central New Delhi.

That may be true for most Gujjars, although not necessarily for Tanwar. He's a textile engineer.

"But I did not go to a top university. I cannot make so much money," he said. "I want my son to go to a top engineering school, to work with computers."

<b>What about the stigma of being at the bottom of the caste system?

"That does not matter so much for us," </b>said Pradeep Bidhuri, a 27-year-old teacher, also taking part in the protest. "We are not as disrespected as dalits."
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[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->अल्पसंख्यकों की बेटियों के निकाह में सरकार मदद देगी

पीलीभीत। उत्तर प्रदेश सरकार गरीब अल्पसंख्यकों की बेटियों के हाथ पीले करने में मदद करेगी। मुख्यमंत्री ने इसके लिये इस वर्ष पचास लाख रुपये की व्यवस्था की है। वहीं अल्पसंख्यक ों के होनहार बच्चों को बेहतर कोचिंग के लिये भटकना नहीं पड़ेगा। बरेली में 12 करोड़ की लागत से कोचिंग सेंटर खोला जायेगा।
   प्रदेश के अल्पसंख्यक कल्याण एवं हज मंत्री अनीस अहमद खां ने चंदोई गांव में पत्रकारों से बातचीत में यह जानकारी दी। उन्होंने कहा, प्रदेश सरकार की मुखिया ने अल्पसंख्यक समाज के गरीबों के दर्द समझते हुए पहली बार इस वर्ग की बच्चियों की शादी के लिये सहायता देने का निर्णय लिया है। उन्होंने बताया कि अल्पसंख्यक बच्चों को प्रशासनिक सेवाओं की कोचिंग देने के लिये मेरठ में सेंटर खोलने के तत्कालीन सरकार के निर्णय को रद्द कर दिया है। अब यह सेंटर बरेली में खोला जायेगा। इसमें लगभग 12 करोड़ रुपये की लागत आयेगी। खां ने बताया कि अल्पसंख्यक वर्ग की बालिकाओं के लिये छात्रावास तथा इंटर कालेज खोलने की व्यवस्था की जा रही है। शहर के बने हुए मुसलिम बालिका इंटर कालेज भवन में विद्यालय आरंभ कराये जाने के सवाल पर उन्होंने बताया कि यह मामला उनके विभाग का नहीं है किंतु वह इस संबंध में साथी मंत्री शहजिल इस्लाम से वार्ता कर विवाद के निस्तारण का प्रयास करेगे। खां ने बताया कि मदरसों को कम्प्यूटर की तालीम देने के लिये इस बार एक हजार कम्प्यूटर दिये जायेंगे।
http://www.jagran.com/news/statenews.aspx?...31849&stateid=1
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UP minority Welfare minister Anees Ahmed Khan told that the new UP govt is
- setting aside a fund for marriage of Muslim girls,
- an IAS coaching center in Bareilly for muslims
- "Muslim Balika Inter colleges"
- computer education in Madarsas.

Mayavati govt continues in the footsteps of earlier Mulayam Singh govt for appeasement and separation. Why a separate "Muslim Balika" - how is that education going to be different from others?

[Guest]

Gurjar leader Col (retired) K S Bainsla with the murder of a constable
How many people died in this agitation? How many were cops? Caste/Creed break-up? And how are these people compensated since I don't see any of our socialists or marxists friends taking up cause of these dead victims?

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->I don't see any of our socialists or marxists friends taking up cause of these dead victims?<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You will soon find them involve in instigating this mess.
They were busy in this area since last 3-4 years.

[Guest]

I think Rajasthan was the first place where Brahmins have demanded reservations too, some 3-4 years ago. I say, no-open-quota and reservations-for-all should be the mantra.