Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Panel for religious, linguistic minorities gathers data

Special Correspondent

Report on SC status for Dalit Christians, Muslims by April 2006

DISCUSSING THE FINDINGS: Ms. Asha Das, Member-Secretary, NCRLM (left) and Anil Wilson, member, at a press conference at the Secretariat in Chennai on Tuesday. — Photo: Vino John

CHENNAI : Several representations seeking reservation in education and employment for Muslims were made to the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) on Tuesday, according to Asha Das, Member-Secretary, and Anil Wilson, Member of the Commission.

Ms. Das told reporters here that one of the mandates of the NCRLM was to recommend measures, including reservation in education and Government employment, for the welfare of socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities.

As the Commission had to submit its report in April 2006, suggesting constitutional, legal and administrative modalities required to implement its recommendations, it had adopted several strategies for collecting data.

Methodology

Questionnaires have been circulated to the Central Ministries, State Governments and all District Collectors to provide details on the status of the minorities and suggestions for improvement of their socio-economic status. Views have been elicited on conferring the Scheduled Castes status to those from Dalits who had embraced Christianity or Islam, she said.

They have been asked to provide details about the impact of ongoing programmes on the life of the minorities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, she said, adding that the NCRLM had also been collecting information regarding the effectiveness and suitability of the criteria adopted for identifying the socially and economically backward.

Details regarding educational status of the religious and linguistic minorities, their admission to educational institutions and in Government service and the need for reservation have also been gathered, she said.

The NCRLM had visited Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Kerala for interaction with representatives of Governmental and non-Governmental organizations, social scientists, intellectuals, academicians, eminent public persons to elicit their views on related issues.

A similar exercise was carried out in Tamil Nadu on Monday and Tuesday.

The Tamil Nadu Government had taken a lot more initiatives than many other States in extending support to the educationally and socially backward especially by providing reservation in education and employment, Ms. Das said.

To a query, Dr. Wilson said the Commission had received a large number of representations from Dalit Christians seeking inclusion in the list of Scheduled Castes.

Dalit Muslims had not made so many representations. The NCRLM had been asked to give its recommendations on the issues raised in writ petitions filed in the Supreme Court and in High Courts in the context of the ceiling of 50 per cent on reservations and the modalities of inclusion in the list of Scheduled Castes, he recalled.

Nawab's plea

A delegation led by Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali presented a memorandum to the NCRLM calling for classifying religious minorities as a class distinct from linguistic minorities. The delegation also requested the Commission to recommend to the Centre to reserve a minimum of 15 per cent for weaker sections among Muslims in all Central services.

The Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, in its memorandum, pleaded, among other things, reservation for Muslims in jobs and education in both public and private sectors and change in electoral law to ensure adequate representation to the minorities.

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