Religion, Caste And Tribe Based Reservation - 4

[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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