By Sanjay Kumar
Those who qualify under such quotas are given preference in government-run educational institutions and are favoured for government jobs, of which a certain number are set aside for them. However, the report says that the quota for Muslims has to come from the existing quota for disadvantaged and low caste Hindus and that these quotas cannot be allocated based on religion, but instead must be based on social and economic deprivation (the Indian constitution does not permit religion-based positive discrimination).
Anwar Saddat, an assistant professor with the Indian Society of International Law in New Delhi, himself comes from a very poor family in Munger, Bihar. He says that offering quotas for disadvantaged Muslims is ‘OK’ but adds that a ‘holistic’ approach to addressing the issue is also needed, one which includes doing more to ensure poor Muslims receive quality education to allow them to help themselves.
But the idea of quotas, or reservation as it is known in India, is not without its critics.
‘A separate quota of 10 percent for Muslims isn’t justifiable because the principle of reservation is that [only disadvantaged groups] should benefit,’ Ahmad says. ‘Not all Muslims need helping hands.’ However, Ahmad agrees with the Rangnath Mishra Commission’s formulation of putting Dalit Muslim (the lowest caste) under the Schedule Caste category (a category meant for lowest class Hindus) as a way of introducing a quota system for them.
The Congress has been accused of using this idea of Muslim quotas to regain flagging support in the north of the country. Around 20 percent of India’s Muslim voters are a significant influence on voting in at least 100 of the country’s 543 parliamentary constituencies, making them a key constituency. Indeed, Congress made significant gains in Uttar Pradesh at the last parliamentary election, winning 21 of the 80 seats there to emerge as the second-largest party in the country’s most populous state.
Yet while Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed says Congress is genuinely ‘committed’ to quotas for disadvantaged Muslims, as well as affirmative action in the form of ‘other welfare measures,’ political analyst Prof. Bidyut Chakraborty sees such talk as ‘populist’ and aimed largely at winning Muslim votes. He also dismisses the idea that Congress’ plans can be described as affirmative action.
‘Affirmative action is taken on the basis of the economic status of the targeted people,’ he says. ‘But reservation is just a blanket quota based on religion.’
Muslims make up just over 13 percent of India’s population over 1.2 billion people. Yet despite the political attention heaped on them, they have yet to see any substantial benefits in terms of economic and social mobility.
Ahmad says he believes there’s a leadership problem among Muslims, but suggests the problem lays not in a lack of leaders, but with those deciding on who to turn to for such leadership.
‘It’s not that Muslims don’t have leaders,’ Ahmad says. ‘The problem is that the majority of Muslims listen to the Mullahs, and the state deals with them and not with other Muslim leaders in an effort to garner the votes.’
Saddat agrees. ‘To break the hold of so-called religious leaders, it’s important that education should reach each and every section of the Muslim society. That will lead to economic emancipation,’ he says. ‘At the same time, parties like the Congress Party should stop patronizing these so-called religious leaders.’
If nothing else, the fact that such a debate has been sparked should in itself be a positive early step forward in tackling social and economic deprivation among Muslims. But ultimately, there’s only so much that government policy can do.
‘The change has to come from within the society,’ Ahmad says. ‘Unless this change comes, no amount of affirmative action or reservation will benefit the real disadvantaged.’
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Bob
India Hindu fanatics are every bit as fundamentalist and dangerous as any other religious nuts out there. The Muslims Indians have the right to live and practice their faith in India if it really is a secular and free democracy. Democracy is a way of life and not a title any country can claim. India is a failed state in every aspect!
Chander
Mullah bob!
Well said. Can you tell me if your Islam is compatible with “democracy”? if so name one Islamic country where democracy is a ’success’. It is Pakistan that’s a failed state, not India.
Self-Responsible
“Saddat agrees. ‘To break the hold of so-called religious leaders, it’s important that education should reach each and every section of the Muslim society. That will lead to economic emancipation,’ he says. ‘At the same time, parties like the Congress Party should stop patronizing these so-called religious leaders.’”
Two Islamic states (Pakistan and Bangladesh) were carved out of the Indian Subcontinent for Indians who followed Islam who did not want to live with other Indians in a secular democratic state. South Asian Muslims have been given more than ANY other group of Indians. Neither Islamic state today is a place that many Muslims in the country of India would want to migrate to.
Indians of the Islamic faith should do less of blaming everyone else and more introspection and see how they are holding themselves back through their actions and choices. What schools do you attend? Madrassas? How much effort do you put into studying? Enough to do well on exams? How qualified are you compared to everyone else applying to the same job? Quit making excuses, blaming others who are not responsible for your skill development (you are), and don’t take easy way out by creating “dalit” Muslims just to get quota.
Chander
Unfortunately, Islamic terrorists from India hold some impressive ‘professional background’ e.g. doctors, engineers IT experts, and some high ranking officers with Indian armed forces/administration and what not.
There isn’t much diff between them and the rest of the islamic “ummah”.
IQUBAL RAZI
Very Well said. “The change has to come from within the society” – very difficult to achieve, but no choice if a person/society wants to emerge.
“It is a fact that Allah does not change the condition of a people unless they bring about change in their own selves.” (Quran 13:11)
Sir Iqbal echoes exactly the same message of the Quran in his own God given style when he says:
“Khuda ne aaj tak us qaum ki haalat naheen badlee na ho jisko khyal aap apni haalat ke badalne ka”
Jesus_is_Lard
May India make peace with it’s Muslim citizens, for the sake of the whole world.