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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK Reservation for Muslims – an Over-view Congress Manifesto and UPA’s-CMP followed by the repeated assurances by the Prime Minister to the minorities for a fair and generous deal have crystallized over the last 3 years in the PM’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of the Minorities, followed by the Sachar Report and the Mishra Report. Their historic & practical importance cannot be overvalued. The Sachar Report concludes on the basis of scientific analysis of all available data on the Muslim community that it is nearly as backward as a community as the SC/ST & more backward than Hindu OBC’s. But for some reason it did not make the logical recommendation that the Muslim community should be recognized as a Backward Class in terms of Article 15 (4) of the Constitution and included in the list of OBC’s with a sub-quota of its own. This omission has been thankfully undone by the Ranganath Mishra Commission which has recognized the Muslim community as a Backward Class and proposed 15% reservation for minorities, out of which 10% exclusively for Muslims.
Ever since reservation for Muslims came on the political radar in the 90’s of the last century, there has been intensive effort by the hostile forces on various fronts to torpedo the idea. A major strategy has been to misguide, mislead, divide and demoralize the Muslim Community on various spurious grounds. Even some intellectuals have joined the game of Muslim -bashing.
On the political plane, parties and politicians with a few honourable exceptions have repeatedly suggested that there can be no religion- based reservation. But this view is erroneous. Article 15 (1) treats religion and caste on par with each other. The ‘word’ only there is very significant. Read with 15 (4), there can be no reservation only on the basis of caste or religion. For all practical purposes reservation has been caste-based on presumption of inherent backwardness. So, a religious group, at least when found to be a Backward Class by a competent authority on the basis of common parameters, is equally eligible, Article 15 (4) speaks neither of religion nor caste but of Backward Class. Provision of reservation to a religious group is therefore a matter of policy, not of law. The Supreme Court in Indira Sawhney judgment endorses this view. So does the Venkatachalliah Commission. And above all, Karnataka & Kerala are living examples of reservation for the Muslim community.
Secondly, Muslims are told that the government service is contracting & diminishing on the whole and that they have come late. But so far no Backward Class has disowned reservation.
Thirdly, the Community is told that the Muslims do not send their children to school because they do not want government jobs. This is absurd. Everybody wants a government job howsoever low, not only for income but for social prestige and every Muslim sends his children to school, if it is available, or wants to.
Fourthly, the Muslims are told that reservation is a crutch and having ‘ruled’ the country for centuries, they should not seek a crutch, thus raising a question of false dignity. The fact is that reservation is not a charity but a normal, universally applied, mechanism for uplifting a backward group which forms a part of a multi-group society, just as a sick child in a family needs more attention.
Finally, they are warned and cautioned against inciting ‘Hindu backlash’ which may take the form of violence, even massacre. But this is absurd because the Muslims are not asking for the moon or anything special or more than their due. And Hindus masses believe in justice.
Democracy implies equitable representation of all social groups in proportion to their population in governance & administration, legislature, education, benefits of development and access to capital. Democracy remains incomplete and the secular state becomes a formality without fair and just representation of all religious (and caste groups) in the power structure. It may be recalled that the fathers of the Constitution had included a provision for reservation for Muslim in the Draft Constitution which was dropped during the third reading, by what can only be described as a deliberate subterfuge and the Muslim Community was promised ‘generous treatment’ without reservation. The Muslim community knows well the treatment it has received so far. M.R. Moily, the Chairman of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission & the former CM of Karnatka, has called it a great injustice to the Muslim which needs to be undone.
What should be the Sub-quota for the Muslim community which forms 13.4% of the population? If the SC/ST receives 100% weightage for their population, even without a detailed determination of their level of backwardness, given the Sachar Report the Muslim Community is entitled to a sub-quota based on 90% weightage. This means it should have a quota of 13.4 X 90/100 i.e.; 12%.
Then, the question is raised that the Supreme Court has capped reservation at 50% and if the Muslims are given a separate quota of 12%, the limit would be exceeded. First, this is not an inflexible limit. Since the number of Backward Classes in the country and their levels of backwardness vary from state to state, there cannot logically be a common limit for all states for all times. Secondly, Tamilnadu & Karnataka have already cracked the ceiling and the parliament has protected their laws by placing them in the 9th Schedule to make them immune from judicial review. In every state, some Muslim subgroups have been identified in the OBC list and if the Muslims have own their sub-quota and Muslim dalits are included in SC lists as suggested by the Muslim community. The OBC quota will go down at least to some extent and the excess over the 50% limit will not be 12%. Thirdly, some states of Muslim concentration like Assam, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have not even touched the 50% limit. So, the Muslim quota can easily be adjusted partly or wholly against the unutilized balance. Fourthly, the pressure for crossing 50% is building up all over the country and, sooner than later, the Supreme Court will have to be approached by the Government to abolish this illogical & unrealistic limit and make it variable from state to state (and for the centre), according to the total of the sub-quotas of various eligible Backward Classes, as well as from census to census according to the progress received by various Backward Classes.
The next question raised whether there can be a separate sub-quota for the Muslim community. There is no doubt that the Supreme Court has permitted categorization of OBC’s. The Moily Government was the first to introduce it in Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh has done it. Tamil Nadu has announced its intention. In a practical sense, Kerala has it many years. So has Bihar by dividing the OBC’s into two sub-groups – forward & backward or Backward & Most Backward.
Then to divide the community a highly emotional question is raised. If there is a common sub-quota for Muslims as a whole, the existing Muslim OBC’s will be ousted and their place, taken by the so-called Ashraf. There are many answers to this question.
No such displacement can occur, if all reservation is subject to the exclusion of the creamy layer and the creamy layer is defined in a reasonable & realistic manner. In my view, all candidates whose total family income is twice or thrice the corresponding national or state figure do not deserve reservation. This means that the cut-off limit will be twice or thrice the average family income of the nation or the state.
The second safeguard is offered by the resolution adopted by the National Conference on Muslim Reservation that the candidates from the existing Muslim OBC’s i.e. the notified Baradaris should enjoy preference & priority and have first claim on the Muslim sub-quota on the basis of prescribed minimum qualification and the other Muslim candidates, the so-called Ashraf, should come in, only for the unutilized places &, that too, on merit.
Thirdly, if any major Muslim baradari like the Momins in Bihar or Quraishis in UP wish to have their own quota, I have no objection.
Thus, the theoretical picture is absolute clear that reservation for Muslim community is not only necessary and desirable but viable and beneficial for the Community as well as the country. What is holding it up is hostility and bias which has reduced the Muslims during 60 years after independence to the present status of backwardness, comparable to the SC/ST.
This explains why, under pressure from the anti-Muslim forces in the mass media and the political system, the UPA Government has not been able to translate its intention into action. On 15 Point Programme nothing has been done except the issue of general guidelines which promise 15% of the outlay on some schemes for the minorities, not exclusively for the Muslims. But the government does not explain the limit of 15%, when the minorities constitute 20 % of the population or define the levels of distribution or explain why they should not get a bigger share in the areas where they form more than 15% of the population. The establishment simply ignores the question.
On the Sachar Report, in May 2007 the Cabinet promised special schemes for all minorities in Minority Concentration districts which have been mapped.
The government has published a list of 90 districts of minority concentration. Only 66 districts out of 90 selected have Muslim concentration. Many districts of Muslim concentration have been left out. What is terrible is that the total Muslim population covered is only 30%. No one answers the question what will happen to the 70% left out in the cold. The Cabinet has also proposed a scholarship scheme but it shall take time though, for the first time, the scheme envisages a quota for Muslim.
The government has also prepared the list of towns of minority concentration which lack minimum infrastructure. But it has not allocated any funds for their development or announced priority for the deprived localities in which the Muslim generally live.
The RBI has made some changes to facilitate flow of bank credit to minorities. Here again the flow is directed towards big borrowers; few of whom will be Muslims & there is no separate provision for small loans for self-employed categories in which the Muslim applicants will figure.
The government is not prepared, for political reasons, to extend benefit of all development schemes which target individuals & groups to all backward groups in proportion to their population in the zone of distribution like Panchayat, Prakhand or Zila.
The alterative approach is universalization, for example, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Indira Awas Yojana or the NREGS for all BPL families. But administrative injustice and deliberate denial leave Muslim areas and Muslim citizens deprived of proportional benefit.
Several Muslim Organizations of national importance have formed a Joint Committee of Muslim Organizations for Empowerment (JCMOE). The JCMOE has formulated a 15 point Charter of Demands and submitted it to all political parties and the government. The JCMOE is aware that the UPA government is sincere towards uplift of the Muslims but facing state elections in the near future, it shudders to take any decisive steps for fear of Hindu ‘backlash’ incited by the BJP and its allies.
What is, therefore, needed is an in-depth discussion on the floor of the Parliament on the Muslim situation in order to reach a national consensus on what needs to be done & should be done for the biggest, yet most backward, minority in the country which has become a drag on national progress. In fact, the Parliament has never held any discussion on the Muslim situation during the last 60 years. Many reports including the annual reports of statutory bodies like the Minorities Commission, the Linguistic Commissioner, of ad hoc bodies like Gopal Singh Panel have been frozen or tabled and forgotten. The most recent example is the Mishra Report which has been put in cold storage.
The Muslim community itself, which stands divided and demoralized, wakes up when a massacre or sacrilege occurs; it has taken deprivation in every field over the years as normal. Individuals may endeavour to exert pressure but the Community, as a whole, listens to speeches and its ‘leaders’ submit memoranda to the power structure. But it has never organized any effective agitation at the town, district, state capital or national capital level, to press for an overall programme of uplift. It has not even sought to convince progressive forces to take up its cause.
The Sachar Report has served a historic purpose not only to set Muslims thinking but also encourage secular political parties to raise their voice in support of the legitimate aspirations of the Community. Several political parties including the Left parties, the NCP, the JLP, the DMK, the SP, the BSP, and the RJD have generally supported these aspirations. The Muslim community looks hopefully how they plead their case before the bar of the nation.
Muslim aspirations stand crystallized in the form of the Charter of Demand, distilled by the JCMOE from the PM’s Programme and the Sachar & Mishra Reports. Its crux is the recognition of the Muslim as a Backward Class, its inclusion in the OBC list with a separate sub-quota of 12% for reservation in public employment, higher education, benefits of all development schemes for individual beneficiaries and flow of bank credit, and the formulation of a Muslim Sub-plan on the pattern of those for SC/ST.
The Community fails to comprehend the insensitivity & reluctance of the Government towards these logical & basic demands. Will it act only when the community musters the courage to emerge out of its slums into the streets?
New Delhi
1 September, 2007 (Syed Shahabuddin)
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