After Liberhan, the UPA government is trying to hide another commission’s report because it seems like an even bigger political hot potato. Unlike Liberhan, though, the broad contours of the Ranganath Mishra commission’s recommendations are clear: 15% reservation in jobs and educational institutions, and social sector schemes for Muslims and other minorities. The government is in no position to implement the recommendations without major changes in existing rules and regulations, and that is one reason why it is sitting tight on the report.
The National Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities was set up on October 29, 2004, under the chairmanship of retired chief justice of India Ranganath Mishra, with Tahir Mahmood, Anil Wilson and Mohinder Singh as its members. It submitted its report to the government two-and-a-half-years ago on May 22, 2007. “It will have to be tabled some day, but no date has been decided,” said minister for parliamentary affairs Pawan Bansal blandly.
The commission’s report makes controversial suggestions like 15% reservation for minorities in education and government jobs, and social welfare schemes like NREGA and the PM’s Rozgar Yojna.
It has also recommended the inclusion of Muslim and Christian Dalits in the list of scheduled castes/scheduled tribes (SC/STs). “We will have to submit the report to parliament sooner or later, but I don’t think it will ever be implemented,” says a UPA minister who declined to be identified.
The government has been dragging its feet on the report for fear that it will rake up a political storm. The idea is likely to be vehemently opposed by the BJP. In fact, there is no unanimity on the subject even within the Congress party. In its election manifesto for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress committed itself to adopting the same reservation policy for minorities at the Centre as had already been introduced in states like Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, but so far there has been no forward movement on the same. These three states have ensured reservations either by declaring Muslims as backward or including a sub-quota for Muslims within the OBC quota.
Minorities affairs minister Salman Khursheed has already indicated that the government will not be able to implement the recommendations on minority reservations as it may not be constitutionally permissible. The Mishra commission, however, believes that the recommendations only require changes in existing rules on including reservations.
The BJP has all along been accusing the Congress party of appeasing the minorities, particularly the Muslim community. However, parties that are eyeing Muslim vote-banks, like the Lok Janshakti Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, have been demanding that the report be implemented at the earliest. These parties are planning a major rally in the capital to press the government to accept the recommendations. “There is nothing controversial about this demand. This is the single most important issue for the minorities,” says Abdul Khaliq, LJP general secretary.
The Ranganath Mishra commission was asked to suggest criteria for the identification of socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities, and also measures for their welfare, including reservations in education and government employment. It was also asked to suggest necessary constitutional, legal and administrative modalities for the implementation of its recommendations.
On the educational front, the commission has recommended 10% reservations for Muslims out of the total 15% for minorities. The remaining 5% is for the other minorities.
The commission has made it clear that though some minor adjustments can be made in the 15% earmarked seats, “in no case shall any seat within the recommended 15% go to the majority community.”
Minority community candidates who can get in through the normal merit list will be excluded from the 15% limit. Mishra has also recommended that the concessions available in terms of lower eligibility criteria for admissions and lower fees to SC/STs be extended to the minorities.
On the question of government jobs, the commission has said that “since Muslims are underrepresented and sometimes wholly unrepresented in government employment, they should be regarded as backward in this respect within the meaning of that term as used in Article 16(4) of the constitution, and that 15% posts in all cadres and grades under the central and state governments should be earmarked for them”. It has made a similar recommendation in respect of social sector schemes.
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