The Hindu : Opinion / News Analysis : Murmurs over Andhra Pradesh move on quotas

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Tuesday, Jun 21, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - News Analysis

Murmurs over Andhra Pradesh move on quotas

W. Chandrakanth

The Andhra Pradesh Government's decision to provide five per cent reservation in education and employment for Muslims has sparked a debate.

THE ANDHRA Pradesh Government's decision to implement five per cent reservation for Muslims in education and employment, excluding the creamy layer, has renewed the debate on the issue of quotas on the basis of religion. The reservation is based on the recommendations of the Backward Classes Commission, which submitted its report on June 14. The State Cabinet on Friday approved it to include Muslims under the `E' category without disturbing the existing reservation for Backward Communities in the `ABCD' categories and sent the draft ordinance to the Governor for approval.

The move, hailed by the Congress as a necessary obligation, has been decried, predictably, by the Bharatiya Janata Party. It has threatened to go to court and also explore other moves to cry a halt to the "communal politics of the Congress."

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy justified it as "minimum justice" done to Muslims reeling under backwardness. While the State Cabinet accepted the recommendation to provide 5 per cent reservation, it turned down the proposal to include some sections of Muslims (Dudekula, Laddaf, Pinjari/Noorbasha and Mehtar) presently under the BC (B) and BC (A) categories, in the proposed `E' group.

The Congress had included the promise of providing reservation to Muslims in its election manifesto and on July 11, 2004, the State Government issued an order providing for reservation. It was based on the statistics supplied by the Minority Welfare Department. Thus, it thought, it kept its word two months after returning to power. But on September 21, 2004, a Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court set aside the GO on the ground that it did not have the backing of the Commission for Backward Classes. The High Court ordered the Government to complete the process of reconstituting the Commission within three months and initiate a process of consultation.

Soon after the GO was issued last year, an angry BJP chief L.K. Advani reacted sharply calling it a retrograde step with potential for "a catastrophic cascading effect."

Speaking at a `Convention Against Religion Based Reservation" in Mumbai on August 14, 2004, Mr. Advani called the move "the Congress party's surrender to the politics of appeasement." "Does the Congress party know the implication of what it is doing," he asked. He further added that the decision was not only harmful for the country, but to the Muslim community as such.

Dr. Rajasekhara Reddy hit back saying: "[The] entire world knows who is communal. Muslims constitute 9.2 per cent of the A.P. population and a large section of them reel under abject poverty. You cannot leave a considerable chunk of your population deprived of socio-economic opportunities and yet plan to develop the State or nation."

The State Government is aware of the legal hurdles it might have to face and is prepared to fight it out. The total reservation in the State has crossed 50 per cent. Reservation for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Backward Classes, hitherto, constituted 46 per cent. The case, if contested, will be presented on the strength of the following statistics: more than 77 per cent of the population falls under the deprived category and hence it is only appropriate that it provides 51 per cent reservation.

Statistics compiled by various Departments show that Muslims are way below others in education, recording just 9.45 per cent at the primary education level. By the time they reach Class Ten, only 6.93 per cent remain in school. In graduation, their percentage is 6.17, in Engineering, 1.39 per cent to 3.92 per cent, in MBBS 3.72 per cent, and in medical PG four per cent.

It was also found that hardly 12 persons out of every 1,000 possess more than four hectares. More than 50 per cent of Muslims in the rural areas do not own any land compared to other communities and those dependent on smallholdings are also hardly 50 per cent of the others.

As for the unemployment rate in the rural areas: it is 16 per cent among Muslims compared to the average eight per cent. In the urban areas, they are above the national average of 42 per cent by accounting for 67 per cent. Their monthly per capita expenditure is also very low at Rs.113 (in 615 out of every 1,000 cases).

The exclusion of the creamy layer means children of those with an annual income of more than Rs.2.5 lakh and also the wards of judges and Class I officers will not get the benefit of reservation. The State Government has considered the conditions that the Union Government adopted in deciding on the creamy layer concept for jobs and admissions at the Central level.

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