12-03-2006, 08:48 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Communal quota </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Backdoor reservation for Muslims
Desperate to woo Muslim voters before Assembly elections are held next year in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttaranchal, and later in Gujarat, the Congress is willing to take any and every measure, irrespective of the damage they are bound to cause to the nation's social fabric, making it that much more vulnerable to communal discord and disharmony. One such measure is the proposal to include so-called other backward classes among India's Muslims - in effect the entire community - in the 27 per cent OBC quota which Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh is determined to impose on both Government and private sector educational institutions. The 27 per cent OBC quota itself is undesirable because not only does it attach premium to certain caste identities while discounting merit, but also threatens to re-open the wounds that were inflicted by the implementation of the BP Mandal Commission's report. What makes the UPA's move, courtesy Mr Singh's diabolical plan, particularly sinister is that it serves as a cloak to hide the Government's real purpose: Introduce a quota for Muslims in educational institutions and thus legitimise rank communalism. The immediate cause for concern on this front is the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development endorsing the backdoor introduction of communal reservation by including Muslims in the 27 per cent OBC quota as proposed in the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill. This also amounts to implementing one of the divisive recommendations of the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee whose report has understandably left those who wish to see India emerge as a powerful nation seething with rage.
But, and this merits reiteration, much as the Government may claim to have secured unanimous parliamentary approval for its regressive casteist and communal quota policy through the Standing Committee's report, the fact is to the contrary: All six BJP members of the committee have refused to append their signatures to this mockery of democracy; instead, they have attached a note of dissent. If the Congress and its allies in the UPA have any sense of political honesty and moral integrity, they will not overlook the note of dissent and claim unanimous approval, as is being made out to be by drum-beaters of the regime. Parliamentary Standing Committee reports are meant to reflect bipartisan agreement on contentious issues and pave the way for Bills to be passed with minimum discord through amendments supported by all parties. The report on extending the ill-conceived 27 per cent OBC quota to include Muslims is no such document of bipartisan support. To portray it as such is to ridicule both tradition and system. Worse, the Congress's approach shows that it has learned no lessons from past mistakes and remains as arrogant and deceitful as ever, confident of bluffing its way through the storm that is bound to break when the Bill comes up for debate and voting. Ironically, while imposing a Muslim quota on Government (and later unaided private) educational institutions, the report and the proposed Bill exempts cash-rich engineering, medical and management colleges run by Muslims from any such obligation. And yet the people are expected to believe that this is a Government devoted to minority welfare
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
Backdoor reservation for Muslims
Desperate to woo Muslim voters before Assembly elections are held next year in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttaranchal, and later in Gujarat, the Congress is willing to take any and every measure, irrespective of the damage they are bound to cause to the nation's social fabric, making it that much more vulnerable to communal discord and disharmony. One such measure is the proposal to include so-called other backward classes among India's Muslims - in effect the entire community - in the 27 per cent OBC quota which Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh is determined to impose on both Government and private sector educational institutions. The 27 per cent OBC quota itself is undesirable because not only does it attach premium to certain caste identities while discounting merit, but also threatens to re-open the wounds that were inflicted by the implementation of the BP Mandal Commission's report. What makes the UPA's move, courtesy Mr Singh's diabolical plan, particularly sinister is that it serves as a cloak to hide the Government's real purpose: Introduce a quota for Muslims in educational institutions and thus legitimise rank communalism. The immediate cause for concern on this front is the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development endorsing the backdoor introduction of communal reservation by including Muslims in the 27 per cent OBC quota as proposed in the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Bill. This also amounts to implementing one of the divisive recommendations of the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee whose report has understandably left those who wish to see India emerge as a powerful nation seething with rage.
But, and this merits reiteration, much as the Government may claim to have secured unanimous parliamentary approval for its regressive casteist and communal quota policy through the Standing Committee's report, the fact is to the contrary: All six BJP members of the committee have refused to append their signatures to this mockery of democracy; instead, they have attached a note of dissent. If the Congress and its allies in the UPA have any sense of political honesty and moral integrity, they will not overlook the note of dissent and claim unanimous approval, as is being made out to be by drum-beaters of the regime. Parliamentary Standing Committee reports are meant to reflect bipartisan agreement on contentious issues and pave the way for Bills to be passed with minimum discord through amendments supported by all parties. The report on extending the ill-conceived 27 per cent OBC quota to include Muslims is no such document of bipartisan support. To portray it as such is to ridicule both tradition and system. Worse, the Congress's approach shows that it has learned no lessons from past mistakes and remains as arrogant and deceitful as ever, confident of bluffing its way through the storm that is bound to break when the Bill comes up for debate and voting. Ironically, while imposing a Muslim quota on Government (and later unaided private) educational institutions, the report and the proposed Bill exempts cash-rich engineering, medical and management colleges run by Muslims from any such obligation. And yet the people are expected to believe that this is a Government devoted to minority welfare
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