Amidst dozens of petitions pending in the Supreme Court pertaining to the Dalits who converted to Islam and Christianity being deprived of reservation benefits, the Central Government has decided to establish a panel to study the status and conditions of the converted Scheduled Caste (SC).
The Indian Express reported that the discussions for the set up of a commission has been going on actively at the Union Cabinet and a panel is likely to be appointed soon.
This national commission will examine the social, economic and educational conditions of the Scheduled Caste members who converted to religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. The report of this commission will be prepared and submitted within a year or more.
It has been notified by the sources in Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Department of Personnel and Training that the Ministry has approved of the proposal. Currently, the Home Ministry, Finance Ministry, Law Ministry and Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry is being consulted about the proposed panel.
It has been predicted that the panel may involve three or four members with the chairman being appointed from the position of Union Cabinet Minister.
Relating to the same issue, earlier in February, 2021, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had told in the Rajya Sabha that Dalits who converted to Islam or Christianity were not eligible to claim the reservation benefits offered to Scheduled Caste. Consequently, they cannot contest elections from the constituencies which were reserved under the SC Quota.
Ravi Shankar Prasad further said that the Dalits who converted to Sikhism and Buddhism can contest elections from these reserved constituencies and are also eligible for other benefits connected to the same.
“Para 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order outlines that… no person who professes a religion different from Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste,” Prasad said.
The Constitution (Schedule Caste) Order 1950, a part of Article 341, states that no person professing a religion different from Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism can be taken as a member of Scheduled Caste. Originally, only the Hindus were categorized as Scheduled Caste. An amendment in 1956 incorporated Sikhs and another in 1990, the Buddhists.
The issue of SC Reservation Benefits made available to those Dalits who converted to Islam and Christianity has been raised during the period of earlier governments as well.
During the time of the government headed by Manmohan Singh, a committee was set up in October, 2004 called the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by the former Chief Justice of India Ranganath Misra.
The report, suggesting measures for the welfare of the socially and economically backward sections among the religious and linguistic minorities, was submitted in 2007. It proposed that similar to the ST quota, the SC quota too should disconnect itself from religion.
“The rights of a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe are independent of his/her religious faith,” declares the DoPT website, showing the religion-neutral status of the reservation.
However, the UPA Government rejected this report on the grounds that it was not verified by field research.
Another independent study proposed by National Commission for Minorities in 2007 inferred that Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims should be granted the benefits of reservation. This study too was not accepted on the basis that the sample analyses were carried out on a small scale.
Information from the Ministry of Minority Affairs directs that the recent proposal regarding the commission was discussed due to the lack of verified or reliable data to formulate the measures and reach a conclusion.
