NEW DELHI: With the Ranganath Mishra commission report recommending SC status to Hindu converts to Christianity and Islam and a subquota for minorities in OBC reservations becoming a hot potato for UPA, the government is all set to give the controversial proposals a deep burial.
The government indicated as much with minority affairs minister Salman Khursheed ruling out an Action Taken Report (ATR) as the panel was not set up under the Commissions of Inquiry Act. Speculation had mounted after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Lok Sabha that the report would be tabled in Parliament.
While the PM had spoken on the issue in response to a Samajwadi Party leader having raised the report in Lok Sabha on Wednesday, a more detailed examination of the commission's findings is currently under way. It is being felt the report deals with constitional issues that have been pronounced upon by courts and are not easy to deal with.
The view that the report is not only difficult to implement but can lead to a socially explosive situation is shared by the top Congress leadership. The party feels that the report will reopen quota controversies with a "communal" tinge and given BJP and Hindutva organisations like Vishwa Hindu Parishad a handle to get raise a divisive campaign.
The constitutional bar on Christian and Muslim "dalits" being allowed access to reservation is not easy to negotiate and any move to get Parliament to consider the potentially incendiary issue could trigger another quota war. Congress has not forgotten how former HRD minister Arjun Singh had ambushed UPA-1 with OBC quotas in central educational institutions.
The possibility of setting up a "committee on a committee" is an obvious option but it is being felt that it may not be feasible or wise to let the matter linger on and the government may well have to bite the bullet to close the chapter. A JD(U) MP who has been lobbying parties was bluntly told by a senior Congress leader that the report's recommendations were unlikely to be considered.
Further consultations between PMO and the ministry for minority affairs are on the cards after the PM returns from the climate summit at Copenhagen but the opinion in government and the Congress seems pretty much set against any move to not expand SC quotas which is also likely to run into the opposition of dalit groups who currently enjoy reservations. These SC groups have clearly indicated that they do not favour widening the quota ambit to other religious communities.
Showing posts with label courtesy-times of india. Show all posts
Showing posts with label courtesy-times of india. Show all posts
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Minority reservation: LF wants creamy layer' out
KOLKATA: Even after welcoming the Ranganath Mishra Committee report over reservation for minorities as "backward", the Left Front is keeping a cautious eye on reactions from the Hindu community.
The Front thus wants to leave it to the Congress-led UPA government to suggest ways of implementing the report. In a way for the Left it is a case of history repeating itself, as had happened during the Mandal Commission controversy nearly two decades ago. Like then, the Left wants the creamy layer' to be kept out. Left Front chairman Biman Bose also wants the benefits extended to linguistic minorities as well.
The Ranganath Mishra Commission report came up for discussion in the Left Front meeting held on Monday. Last week, Forward Bloc state secretary and the senior Front leader Asok Ghosh had written to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asking the state government to implement the recommendations. Bhattacharjee had replied to Ghosh that the matter would be discussed among the Front partners.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that the Front partners have been asked to study the report and give a detailed note to the Left Front and also the chief minister. "Chief minister will consult the Front partners," Bose said.
Bose blamed the Centre for delaying the report. "This report was not for academic studies but for benefit of people and society. We are completely in the dark about how the Centre is planning to implement the recommendations. It is for the Centre to decide on the implementation process and then direct the state governments. They could have sought the opinion of national parties," said Bose.
The Ranganath Misra Commission report states that the Centre had categorically stated that there was no legal compulsion to draw up an All-India list of socially and educationally backward classes.
The report states that instead the Centre had asked the state governments had the discretion to "choose their own criteria for defining backwardness, it would be better to apply economic tests than to go by caste." The BP Mandal Commission which submitted its report in 1980 had drawn 11 social, educational and economic indicators to identify backwardness.
Bose said that the creamy layer has to be excluded. "Benefits have to reach the socially and economically backward people. Linguistic minorities can also be covered. Instead of religious minorities, socio-economically backward communities can be included. BPL lists available with the state governments or whatever data is in hand should be used to implement the recommendations," Bose said.
CPI state secretary Manju Majumdar welcomed the report but pointed out that the implementation has to be considered with due emphasis on the economic and social parameters for backwardness among minorities both religious and linguistic.
RSP leader and state minister Kshiti Goswami said that the report has to be studied in detail. "It has to be seen which section of the society will benefit from this," Goswami said.
The Front thus wants to leave it to the Congress-led UPA government to suggest ways of implementing the report. In a way for the Left it is a case of history repeating itself, as had happened during the Mandal Commission controversy nearly two decades ago. Like then, the Left wants the creamy layer' to be kept out. Left Front chairman Biman Bose also wants the benefits extended to linguistic minorities as well.
The Ranganath Mishra Commission report came up for discussion in the Left Front meeting held on Monday. Last week, Forward Bloc state secretary and the senior Front leader Asok Ghosh had written to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asking the state government to implement the recommendations. Bhattacharjee had replied to Ghosh that the matter would be discussed among the Front partners.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that the Front partners have been asked to study the report and give a detailed note to the Left Front and also the chief minister. "Chief minister will consult the Front partners," Bose said.
Bose blamed the Centre for delaying the report. "This report was not for academic studies but for benefit of people and society. We are completely in the dark about how the Centre is planning to implement the recommendations. It is for the Centre to decide on the implementation process and then direct the state governments. They could have sought the opinion of national parties," said Bose.
The Ranganath Misra Commission report states that the Centre had categorically stated that there was no legal compulsion to draw up an All-India list of socially and educationally backward classes.
The report states that instead the Centre had asked the state governments had the discretion to "choose their own criteria for defining backwardness, it would be better to apply economic tests than to go by caste." The BP Mandal Commission which submitted its report in 1980 had drawn 11 social, educational and economic indicators to identify backwardness.
Bose said that the creamy layer has to be excluded. "Benefits have to reach the socially and economically backward people. Linguistic minorities can also be covered. Instead of religious minorities, socio-economically backward communities can be included. BPL lists available with the state governments or whatever data is in hand should be used to implement the recommendations," Bose said.
CPI state secretary Manju Majumdar welcomed the report but pointed out that the implementation has to be considered with due emphasis on the economic and social parameters for backwardness among minorities both religious and linguistic.
RSP leader and state minister Kshiti Goswami said that the report has to be studied in detail. "It has to be seen which section of the society will benefit from this," Goswami said.
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