<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Are castes going down as backward, asks SC </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
<b>Are the castes of India constantly going down as backward,"</b> commented the Supreme Court on Monday after learning that the Centre has no mechanism to exclude castes from the backward class list causing the backward lists to swell up.
A Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan said,<b> "When you include somebody (as OBC) that indicates he has gone down. But you are bound to exclude those who have come up."</b>
Justice Arijit Pasayat, who formed the Bench headed by the CJI along with Justices CK Thakker, RV Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari, said, "If you (Government) feel more and more persons have to be included as backward class that means more persons are going down."
Solicitor General GE Vahanvati arguing for the Centre quoted Section 11 of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) Act 1993 in response. He said, "Section 11 authorises the Government to exclude a person on a complaint of over-inclusion or under-inclusion."
Not convinced by the Centre's argument, the Bench said<b>, "Merely because there is no complaint that does not mean you do not exclude any person." </b>The Bench was speaking in the light of its <b>Mandal judgment in 1992, which entrusted the Government with the task of periodic review of backward classes. Reservation was initially intended for a period of 10 years and court mandated a review at the lapse of this period.</b>
The Solicitor General maintained that the list of backward classes intended for reservation in educational institutions and Government jobs are those found common in the Mandal Commission report and the individual State lists. Justifying its action as good, he argued<b>, "Till date not a single complaint has been received."</b>
The Centre disputed the allegations of the anti-quota petitioners' about the inclusion under backward classes being mechanical. The NCBC follows a set procedure of inquiry and investigation of request by any caste/class to get the backward tag. On this basis, Vahanvati led the court through an exhaustive list of castes being denied place in the backward classes list in every State. During the period of its functioning, it was stated, the commission recommended 297 requests for inclusion into the OBC list. At the same time 288 requests for inclusion as main castes were rejected.
<b>He argued that caste must serve as the indicator of backwardness since any survey to determine economic or social backwardness is difficult to achieve</b>. He cited several Supreme Court judgments. Vahanvati further defended the correctness of the Mandal report suggesting that never in the past the court had considered the adequacy or correctness of the Mandal report.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Blow to AP Govt from SC-No more admission under Muslim Quota
9/28/2007 1:58:51 AMÂ HK
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Andhra Pradesh government not to make any further admissions in professional and educational institiutions under the controversial Act providing four per cent resevrations to the Muslims.
The Supreme Court directive is a reminder to all Pseudosecular Govt's of various states, that not to mess with the Indian <b>Constitution which upholds 'Sarva Dharma Samabhavana' in it's true sense and there is no place for present type of Minority wooing. </b>
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<!--emo&:rocker--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rocker.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rocker.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>SC reserves verdict on validity of 27% quota </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
... in Govt's premier educational institutions
The marathon hearing on the validity of 27 per cent OBC reservation in premier Central educational institutions came to a close in the Supreme Court on Thursday with a five-judge Bench reserving its verdict on the contentious law.
The Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan drew curtains on the hearing in the case which stretched on for almost four months.
On Thursday, the anti-quota petitioners made a final presentation of their case in response to the arguments by the Centre, State Governments and political parties who reasoned that the 27 per cent OBC reservation in educational institutions was reasonable and constitutionally valid.
<b>The decision is considered to have serious ramifications on the political fortunes of several political parties who are seeking to benefit from this sop offered by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).</b>
The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act 2006 introduced by the Government had proclaimed a 27 per cent share for OBCs in premier educational institutions like IITs, IIMs and AIIMS.
The Supreme Court in February this year had stayed the Act to the extent the Government was restrained from allotting admissions under the OBC category. Though a host of constitutional issues emerged during the hearing, the petitioners opposing the Act attacked the Centre's criteria to identify OBCs and to arrive at a figure of 27 per cent when no reliable data exists to substantiate their actual population.
The court before passing the stay order realised that the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) entrusted with the task of identifying OBCs added almost 284 castes as OBCs without excluding any from the list, as mandated by previous Supreme Court decisions. The 2006 law also suffered on account of non-exclusion of creamy layer held by the court as essential for the success of any affirmative action policy.
Senior advocate Rajiv Dhavan who spoke against the 2006 Act was critical of the Government's failure till date to establish any relevant criteria for identifying OBCs. According to him, the scale of measure has kept on shifting from caste to occupation-based backwardness, as a result creating 'pitfalls' in the reservation policy.
<b>Complimenting him was senior advocate Harish Salve who was critical of the Government's intention to bypass the 'reasonableness' test put forth by the Constitution. Article 15(1) of the Constitution addresses the principle of non-discrimination based on caste. In such conditions, the Government's approach in classifying socially and educationally backward class from caste and caste alone is against the Constitutional scheme.</b>
He further attacked the 93rd amendment as being unconstitutional since it violates the rights of the minority as well as majority-run unaided institutions who are made to reserve seats for the State.
At the end of the hearing, the question still remains whether there exists any relevant data on OBCs and if yes, does it meet the criteria set out by the court in its previous decisions. Though exclusion of creamy layer has been one factor the Bench has insisted all along, the Act could face the court's scrutiny on the reasonableness of reserving 27 per cent for OBC even with the creamy layer cap
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Now, Muslim quota in housing scheme </b>
Rajeev Ranjan Roy | New Delhi
PMO intervenes to include minorities in new urban housing policy for poor
The Centre's National Urban Housing and Habitat Policy, 2007 (NUHHP) unveiled on Friday envisages "special provisions" to provide affordable housing units to minorities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and disabled persons.
The Government would seek foreign direct investment (FDI) in the urban housing sector to help the poor, and ensure effective implementation of policy in 250 towns in the country with large minority populations.
The new sop is in lieu of 10 to 15 per cent of land in every new public and private housing project or 20 to 25 per cent of floor area ratio (FAR) to be reserved for persons from economically weaker sections (EWS) and low-income group (LIG).
"The minorities, SCs, STs, OBCs and disabled people do need special treatment as far as housing is concerned. In view of the UPA Government's commitment to these sections, we decided to incorporate special provisions for them in the new urban housing policy," Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja said.
...........
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW DELHI: In what may prove to be a serious blow to the case for "Dalit" Christians and Muslims to be given access to reservations, the National Commission for SCs has concluded that there is insufficient evidence that these sections suffered from the stigma of untouchability.
The reasoning is a significant addition to the opinion already expressed by the commission that Dalit converts could be extended quota benefits but with the rider that it could not be at the cost of the 15% quota for those on the SC list. The observations on untouchability will, however, make it difficult for Christian and Muslim "Dalits" to be granted quota benefits.
The government can still go ahead with granting quota benefits to the minority claimants. But in doing so, it
will run the risk of violating the 50% ceiling imposed on quotas by the Supreme Court. The only other option would be to carve a separate quota out of the OBC share.
That may be politically fraught, as it could trigger a hostile reaction from the backward castes. Just as SCs are not enthused about fresh competition, the OBCs too are not likely to react differently.
The SC panel's opinion has come in response to a central reference on the demand for extension of benefits for SCs to dalit converts.
While reiterating its earlier decision to extend the quota regime to "Dalit" minorities without impacting the 15% quota for SCs, as reported by TOI, the commission's comment on untouchability would virtually block the possibility of the Centre including Dalit converts in the SC list.
The panel, which met recently to debate the issue again, said a separate quota for "converts" should be created as "untouchability is the criteria for inclusion of a caste in the SC list and it is not satisfactorily fulfilled in this case". The separate quota, the commission said, should be according to their population.
The commission's opinion is seen as crucial since it is linked to a PIL in the apex court. The Centre had referred the issue to the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) on a notice from the court
and then forwarded the latter's opinion in favour of "neo-Dalits" to the SC panel for its comments.
The NCRLM had recommended that SC status, limited to dalits among Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs, should be delinked from religion by an amendment to Constitution (SCs) Order, 1950. Whatever the final view of the SC panel, it would be filed by way of an affidavit in the apex court.
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NCDC outraged over Cong delaying SC status to dalit Christians
New Delhi | Saturday, Dec 8 2007 IST
The National Council of Dalit Christians (NCDC) here today expressed outrage over the delaying tactics of the Congress to grant SC status to Dalit Christians in the country. It also expressed shock over the media reports about the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) contention that there was insufficient evidence that Christians of scheduled caste (SC) origin were facing untouchability.
The Elayaperumal Commission of 1969 and the Ranganath Misra Commission had submitted its report in May, this year, that they equally faced problems of social degradation and mistreatment both by their co-religionists and the others, the NCDC asserted.
''We appeal earnestly to the NCSC to consider the plight of the Christians of SC origin and recommend to the Central government to take necessary measures for the early inclusion of the SC converted Christians in the Scheduled Castes'' the Council said in a statement.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>BJP CMs say no to UPA's 'communal budgeting'Â </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
The BJP-ruled States on Wednesday blasted the Centre for incorporating a special 15-point programme for minorities in the draft paper for the 11th Five-Year Plan claiming it amounts to budgeting on communal lines. Â
A day after the BJP high-command asked party ruled States to oppose the "communal budgeting" factor that the UPA Government was trying to incorporate in the Five-Year Plan, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi demanded a review of the programme that stipulates earmarking 15 per cent of targets and outlays under various schemes for minorities.
<b>"It should be reviewed in the interest of maintaining the social fabric of the nation," </b>Modi said at the National Development Council meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday. The meeting was convened to approve the draft paper for the Five-Year Plan.
Modi went on to add the "discrimination" among the beneficiaries based on their minority status will not help the cause of taking the people of India together on the path of development.
"The correct criteria for flow of funds for various schemes and programmes should be based on the principle of equity by taking only socio-economic criteria alone, he suggested, adding, "implementation of such schemes should be left to the State.".
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also rejected the proposal saying poor have no caste or religion; hence only the economic criteria should be the basis for allocating funds for welfare schemes. "This is an example of vote bank politics and it is being done only to appease Muslims," Chouhan told mediapersons.
Echoing similar views, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said the focus of the Plan document should be on poverty rather than on specific communities. "Poverty is the biggest problem and the Eleventh Plan should address it effectively and the focus should not be on communal lines," he said.
Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, however, dismissed the Muslim appeasement allegation as "BJP propaganda" and welcomed the document saying it generated a lot of hope for the country, specially in the agriculture sector.
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This is worse, are they planning to divide country or another way to attract people to convert to get benefits.
<b>Dalit Christians oppose move to be included in Scheduled Caste list </b>
NEW DELHI, DHNS:
The Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) has blamed Church Authorities of conspiring to include them in the Scheduled Caste list, which it said is not acceptable to Dalit Christians. <b>In an open letter to Church authorities, the PCLM President R L Francis said Dalits converted to Christianity to preserve their dignity, thereby losing out on reservation benefits available to them under the Constitution.</b>
<b>Demanding compensation for the 20 million Dalit Christians, Mr Francis said Dalits have suffered heavy economic losses by foregoing reservation and converting to Christianity to get respect and dignity in the Christian society</b>. "The US Church authorities have paid million of dollars in compensation for sexual perversion of few of its priests," he said, asking why Indian Church authorities could not pay for a more serious "collective sin" (Astha ka Balatkar) factor.
In a press release, Mr Francis said the efforts of the Indian Church authorities to put Dalit Christians yet again in the Scheduled Caste list would promote casteism in Christianity. "It's a mockery of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross," he said.
In his Good Friday message to all PCLM state level office bearers and cadre, Mr Francis urged them to "prepare and preserve documents of various socio-economic losses and damages caused to the millions of Dalit Christians because of the absolute neglect, lethargy and gross carelessness of the Church authorities."
Thursday, January 10, 2008 14:48 [IST]
New Delhi: The State of Tamil Nadu in its counter affidavit filed in the Supreme Court has justified its policy of providing 69 per cent reservation to the OBCs, ST/SCs and socially and educationally backward classes in the State for admission to educational institutions.
Tamil Nadu has also pleaded before the apex court <b>that there cannot be any simple formula for derterminig creamy layer for their exclusion from the benefits of the reservation</b>. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
According to the State, <b>88 per cent of its population belonged to the reserved categories like the OBCs, SC/ST, socially and educationally backward classes.</b>
The State also contended that <b>68 per cent reservation </b>had been enforced in the state since 1980 and the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes SC/ST (Reservation of seats in private educational institutions) Act 2006 was introduced only after 93rd constitutional amendment.
A bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and P Sadasivam granted four weeks time to the petitioner NGO Voice to file its rejoinder to the counter affidavit of the state government.
The State government has cited the example of farmers whose income may be good when the crop is bumper and his income may go down drastically if there is drought and in such a case, in one year he may be included in the creamy layer but in another year he may be out of it.
According to the state government, caste is not the sole criteria for providing reservation in admissions, it is one of several criterion.
Source : UNI
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Rajasthan Govt to carve out separate quota for Gujjars </b>
Pioneer.com
Lokpal Sethi | Jaipur
The Rajasthan Government has decided to carve out a separate 4 to 6 per cent reservation for nomadic communities including Gujjars.
This reservation would be in addition to present provision of 16 per cent reservation for Schedule Castes, 12 percent for Schedule Tribes and 21 percent for Other Backward Classes(OBC). <!--emo&:thumbdown--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='thumbsdownsmileyanim.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Proposed reservation would limit to the State Government jobs and educational institutions.
The decision to make this provision was taken at a meeting of the ruling BJP leaders on Saturday night. Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said at the meeting that the State Government would intimate its decision to centre in a day or two. A notification, in this regard, is likely to be issued on Monday. This would be done under the notified Schedule Tribe categories of certain communities.
Senior BJP leader and in-charge of party affairs in Rajasthan, Gopinath Munde informed the leaders that such a provision was already existing in Maharashtra, which provide 11.5 per cent reservation. It would not violate the maximum 49 percent reservation provisions of the constitution.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Tamil Nadu has also pleaded before the apex court that there cannot be any simple formula for derterminig creamy layer for their exclusion from the benefits of the reservation.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Whole state is backward. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
P. Sainath
Increasingly, job quotas are cited as âdiscriminationâ â in reverse. But the word discrimination in terms of caste means something very different that the media mostly do not, or choose not to, understand.
A signal achievement of the Indian elite in recent years has been to take caste, give it a fresh coat of paint, and repackage it as a struggle for equality. The agitations in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences and other such institutions were fine examples of this. Casteism is no longer in defensive denial the way it once was. (âOh, caste? That was 50 years ago, now it barely exists.â) Today, it asserts that caste is killing the nation â but its victims are the upper castes. And the villains are the lower orders who crowd them out of the seats and jobs long held by those with merit in their genes.
<b>
The idea of âreverse discriminationâ (read: the upper castes are suffering) is catching on. In a curious report on India, The Wall Street Journal, for instance, buys into this big time. </b>It profiles one such upper caste victim of âreverse discriminationâ with sympathy. (âReversal of Fortunes Isolates Indiaâs Brahmins,â Dec. 29, 2007.) âIn todayâs India,â it says, âhigh caste privileges are dwindling.â The father of the storyâs protagonist is âmore liberalâ than his grandfather. After all, âhe doesnât expect lower-caste neighbours to take off their sandals in his presence.â Gee, thatâs nice. They can keep their Guccis on.
The caste question
The article âDiscrimination for dummies: V. 2008â (Jan. 18) gives a refreshingly different perspective of Indiaâs hierarchical caste system. It is journalism at its best in the midst of the triumphalist din that India is on the brink of global success with a record growth rate of almost 10 per cent and is poised to become a superpower. Respectable elites profess equal rights without realising that they are meaningless in a society in which opportunities are unequal. For all the talk of the fading away of the caste consciousness, it is no secret that depressed caste people are hated and harassed. As a result of their growing awareness and assertion over the past few decades, they have access to the constitutionally guaranteed reservation in education and employment. That a vast majority of those at the bottom of the caste system suffer from dehumanising poverty and lead a miserable existence is no excuse to do away with positive discrimination.
G. David Milton,
Maruthancode
* * *
Caste discrimination goes back a few thousand years, and it cannot be undone by a few decades of half-hearted reservation. Till such time as there are caste-based matrimonial advertisements, caste-based reservation should continue. Given the stranglehold of the upper castes over the media, it is not surprising that AIIMS-type campaign journalism proliferates. One cannot help feeling that the consent for economic liberalisation is a sly way of undermining reservation.
Sanjay Ghosh,
New Delhi
** *
Caste in India is a hard reality and caste consciousness is deepening by the day. Reservation has surely made a change to the caste scenario though not at the expected pace. Would anyone have imagined two decades ago that a Dalit would become Chief Minister of the most populous Indian State?
P. Rajen,
New Delhi
* * *
The article rightly points to the media approach to caste which misses the broader picture. To call what happened at Khairlanji â a national shame â an incident is to undermine the gravity of the offence. Despite some educational progress by Dalits, they continue to face discrimination in different walks of life in some form or the other. There is an urgent need to understand the social malaise of caste discrimination in its right perspective. The media must let the truth prevail.
Sunil Kumar,
New Delhi
Civilised society cannot encourage discrimination on the basis of oneâs birth. Just as we allow religious conversions by law, we should encourage caste conversions to protect the most backward from exploitation by political groups in the name of reservation.
G.L.N. Murthy,
Hyderabad
* * *
The article is a count-by-count rebuttal of the lies being spread by the media and a section of the elite. The overzealous media fail to see merit in affirmative action for the disadvantaged and feed the public with stories of upper caste victimisation. Unless the media present Dalit issues in a right perspective, bad blood will continue to flow.
Bankim Samaddar,
Faridabad
* * *
Cries of âreverse discriminationâ and âdwindling privilegesâ are a sinister misrepresentation engineered by the powerful elitist lobby. Such jargons are dished out by the privileged only to create confusion among the naive and slow down corrective action. Just because our economic system is unable to achieve equal opportunities for all and eliminate inequalities, we cannot withdraw the helping hand of extending reservation to the weakest sections of our social fabric.
Kasim Sait,
Chennai
* * *
Even though ancient Brahmins were responsible for providing religious and moral sanction to the caste system, Brahmins today have no role in the injustices and inhuman cruelties inflicted on Dalits. It is only those sections which feel their economic and social status is threatened by the empowerment of Dalits that perpetrate atrocities against them.
S.P. Asokan,
Cuddalore
* * *
While Brahmins may not be the ones abusing Dalits in this day and age, it cannot be denied that caste oppression is the creation of Brahmins of the bygone past. To eradicate casteism, we should do away with caste-based reservation and ban the use of the word âcasteâ in the media. Let reservation be need-based: 40 per cent for the socially and economically backward, and 15 per cent each for only the socially backward and only the economically backward. Thirty per cent of education and employment should be merit-based.
Koti Sreekrishna,
Mason, Ohio
* * *
It is no oneâs case that Dalits are not marginalised or that they do not need all the help that can be made available by the state. What the WSJ article rightly termed reverse discrimination takes place not in backward regions but in the highest echelons of Indian academia. Its effects are felt severely in higher education where the deserving are denied admission in favour of those who are less competent. Offering sops at such levels is not only ineffective in uplifting the poor Dalits of rural India but also introduces severe distortions.
As regards the Brahmin super-convention in Pune, it may be pointed out that the convention was held on private premises and did not disrupt normal life. No one has any issues with even the Shivaji Park meeting except that Mumbai is ill-equipped to cater to such a large gathering that forces the offices in and around the park to remain closed on December 6.
Hrishikesh Vidyadhar Ganu,
Kozhikode
* * *
The huge success of the BSP in the Uttar Pradesh elections is a perfect example of the fact that it is not Brahmins whom the Dalits consider their oppressors. It is time for Dalit sympathisers to identify the real oppressors and stop blaming the upper castes for everything.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Govt orders caste census </b>
Pioneer/com
Akhilesh Suman | New Delhi
After a major controversy last year regarding Muslim headcount in Government services, <b>the Centre has now decided to go for a count of OBC, SC, ST staff in various Central services</b>. The list would also include the number of physically challenged persons in services.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has sent a circular to all ministries and departments to conduct the exercise and send their reports by March 30, 2008 with the cut off period of January 1, 2008.
The survey would cover all employees who have either been recruited on the basis of reservation or by merit and also include IAS and other Group A services. However, the exercise would not include Public Sector Undertakings and autonomous organisations or even quasi-Government institutions.
"The motive is to take stock of the real representation of such categories," a senior official of the Ministry said.
<b>However the timing of the exercise, when the Government is gearing up for the general election, is significant. The deadline of March 30, 2008 also raises eyebrows as it coincides with the last full Budget session of the Congress-led UPA Government.</b>
<b>SC: Are there castes among Muslims</b>?<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->"Since when have the Muslims have started following caste-system? It is surprising. We thought that it had only rich and poor divide. The assertion that caste system is practised in Islam and that certain sections need reservation is new to us," the Bench said.
Referring to the strict dictats of Quran prohibiting practice of any forms of caste system within Islam, Justice Balakrishnan said there was no such discrimination on the basis of caste among Muslims in Kerala, his home state.
On Tuesday, the apex court had given six weeks time to the Centre to file its response to similar petitions filed by Christian organisations and individuals seeking extension of reservation benefit to Dalits within their community.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>The CPI(M) sought withdrawal of government's reported decision to set the criteria of 60 pc marks for scheduled caste and tribe students to get post-metric scholarships, saying it was against the norms of social justice. </b>Â <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->Â <!--emo&:roll--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ROTFL.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='ROTFL.gif' /><!--endemo-->
"The Finance Ministry and Planning Commission who are instrumental in pushing for this decision are trying to impose their flawed understanding to cut subsidies, in this instance at the cost of dalit and tribal students," the party Politburo said in a statement on Saturday.
Observing that the percentage of such students in professional institutions was already "dismally low", it said such a decision was "against the norms of social justice" and would "lead to further marginalisation" of students belonging to the oppressed sections.
Demanding withdrawal of the decision, the party urged the government to bring an appropriate central legislation to bring private institutions under social control in key areas like fees and admissions.
In this context, <b>CPI(M) Politburo member and MP Brinda Karat on Saturday met Social Justice Minister Meira Kumar and raised the issue.</b>
<b>She was accompanied by a team of leaders of the Students Federation of India (SFI).</b>
"This is part of the government's drive to enforce subsidy cuts which will be at the cost of the dalit and tribal students. It is highly objectionable," she said and demanded reversal of the decision.
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âIn Karnataka, Muslim population has grown by 194 per cent, general population by 124 per centâ
Figures are based on the National Family Health Survey, which commenced in 1961
BANGALORE: âThe Rajendra Sachar Committee report has been modelled on the Hunter Committee report of 1871, which was designed to divide India on the basis of religion by the British. The Sachar Committee report will again divide India should it be allowed to be implemented,â said experts, who took part in a seminar on the report here on Sunday.
The seminar was organised jointly by the Centre for Educational and Social Studies and Mythic Society of Bangalore on the theme âThe content and implications of the Rajendra Sachar Committee Report.â The panel of speakers included Rakesh Sinha, reader of Political Science Department of Delhi University; Prakash Belawadi, theatre director; S.C. Jayachandra, president of the Karnataka SC/ST Backlog Engineersâ Association; and Anwar Manippady, former chairman of Karnataka State Minorities Commission. The former judge of the Karnataka High Court, Jagannatha Shetty, presided.
Dr. Sinha said the âSachar Committee report was aimed at creating a conducive atmosphere for certain political parties to muster political supportâ and termed it as an instrument for communalising politics. Quoting the National Family Health Survey, Dr. Sinha said that the Muslim community had shown prolific growth in population. Basing 1961 as the year of commencement of the survey, Delhi had shown 944 per cent growth while in Haryana it was 324 per cent. All India figures showed that the Muslim population had grown by 194 percent while the general population had grown by 120 per cent.
<b>
In Karnataka, the Muslim population has grown by 194 per cent and the general population by 124 percent and it obviously meant that the Muslim community was thriving, despite the so-called economic backwardness as pointed out by the report. Political parties perhaps were trying to erode the Indian nationality and wanted to raise a religion-based nationality by promoting the Sachar Committee report, Dr. Sinha said. Mr. Manippady also gave a call to reject the Sachar Committee report, saying that the Government should instead institute another survey which should be more âinclusiveâ particularly those sections of society that are economically backward. </b>By restricting the survey to a certain religious group, the Government would only divide the nation into hostile camps trying to vest Government empathy. âThis was a convenient political ploy to keep the vote bank intact in the future,â he added.
Mr. Justice Jagannath Shetty questioned the validity of the commission report. There has to be a healthy discussion in Parliament to give credence to the Sachar Committee Report, which has not happened.
New Delhi, Apr 9 (PTI) The Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict tomorrow on the constitutional validity of the controversial law to provide 27 per cent quota to OBCs in central educational institutions.
A five-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan on November 1 last had reserved its verdict after a hearing that lasted 25 days on a bunch of petitions challenging the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006.
The apex court in its March 29, 2007 interim order had stayed the implementation of the Act holding that data based on 1931 census cannot be the determinative factor for the affirmative action.
The anti-quota activists opposed the government's move vehemently saying caste was the starting point of identifying backward classes.
It was alleged that the Government was in dilemma and has adopted caste as the basis of identifying the backward classes for political reasons. The inclusion of 'creamy layer' in the reservation policy was also questioned by those opposing the law.
The Centre and the pro-quota petitioner had justified the 27 per cent reservation. Besides Chief Justice, other members on the bench included, Justices Arijit Pasayat, C K Thakker, R V Raveendran and Dalveer Bhandari.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Quota with caveat </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
SC does well to frame ground rules
By allowing 27 per cent quota for socially and educationally backward classes, popularly knowns as OBCs, in admissions to Central educational institutions, the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2007, which had justifiably caused outrage across the nation. In a sense, Thursday's verdict of the Constitution Bench does not come as a surprise. After all, having upheld the constitutional validity of reserving 27 per cent Government jobs for OBCs, the Supreme Court could not have struck down the law for a similar quota in Central educational institutions. Had it ruled otherwise, the Mandal Commission's recommendations, too, would have been denuded of constitutional validity. Moreover, Article 15 (5) does empower the Government to make special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes; it is another matter that this provision tends to be cynically exploited for vote-bank politics. To that extent, Thursday's judgement was a foregone conclusion, notwithstanding the fact that some issues still remain unresolved --<b> for instance, the flawed arithmetic of computing the OBC population -- despite the extensive reasoning offered by the judges in support of their conclusion. </b>What has, however,<b> come as a welcome departure is the court's categorical assertion that the 'creamy layer' among OBCs should not qualify for benefits under the new quota law. The Union Government has been asked to define the 'creamy layer' according to the provisions of the office memorandum issued by the Centre on September 8, 1993.</b> Unless an attempt is made to subvert this restriction by crafty politicians who believe quota benefits are meant for the 'creamy layer' -- without such perquisites, political power would be meaningless for them --<b> it could be seen as a first step towards supplanting caste with economic criteria, which should be the basis for any affirmative action in a modern democracy.</b>
The court has also done well to lay down the line on two important aspects that have been agitating people ever since the Government brought in the new quota law.<b> The first is to do with the question as to who among those classified as OBCs, minus the 'creamy layer', can claim benefit under this law. The majority view of the Bench has disqualified graduates since they cannot claim to be educationally backward, thus placing post-graduate courses beyond the purview of OBC quota. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> There is indisputable logic in the court's decision, not least because it underscores the fact that OBC quota beneficiaries cannot claim 'backwardness' in perpetuity. This will also insulate post-graduate courses from the debilitating impact of placing caste over merit. Second, by prescribing minimum qualifying grades for OBC applicants, that should range between five and ten grace marks compared to the minimum qualifying marks for 'general category' students, to avail of the quota, the court has sought to ensure that the benchmark for admissions is not lowered to a level that will entirely discount merit. </b>Meanwhile, we can look forward to more than some amount of chaos as Central educational institutions prepare to admit students for the coming academic year. As per the Government's decision, the quota is supposed to be implemented in a staggered manner while increasing the number of seats and facilities so that there is no decline in the intake of students in the non-quota category. Needless to add, no work has been done on this front.
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