Tamil Nadu minorities tell the government: reserve 7% of education and administration posts.
Archbishop of Madurai, Mgr Fernando: the marginalization of Dalit Christians and Muslims is a matter of social justice and freedom of worship.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) Representatives of Indian minorities have asked the government of Tamil Nadu to reserve 7% of posts in the education and employment sectors for Christians and Muslims who are outcastes. In this southern state, Christians make up 6.1% of the population and Muslims 5.6%, but their representation in state departments is marginal.
At the end of a meeting which took place on 17 September last, representatives of the two communities asked the Tamil Nadu authorities to set aside 7% of posts for them, a move which would bring them in line with other states like Kerala, Karnataka e Andhra Pradesh. Among proposals made to the government, there is also an appeal for the provisional recognition of Christians as a "most backward category", with a view to gradually inserting them permanently into the caste system by giving them Scheduled Caste status.
Mgr Peter Fernando, archbishop of Madurai, who chaired the meeting, said that leaving Dalit Christians outside the caste system went against the right of freedom of worship. A presidential decree promulgated in 1950 provides for reserved quotas in education and public administration for Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist Dalits. This prerogative is not applied to Christians and Muslims who are outcastes they do not follow the caste system - and it is taken away from those who embrace Christianity or Islam.
During the meeting, participants invited the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government to grant the Dalits Scheduled Caste status. They also criticized the authorities for "not properly handling the case of Dalit Christians" in the Supreme Court. On 23 August, the court postponed debate about the granting of full civil rights to Dalit Christians, because the Procurator General of the government, Milon Bannerjee, asked for more time to study the issue.
Another resolution approved by the meeting criticised the Tamil Nadu government's recent orders and guidelines "which amounted to a gradual denial of right conferred by Article 30 (1) of the Constitution on minorities to start and administer educational institutions". The meeting appealed to the government to provide for payment of teaching grants to aid teacher-training institutes and industrial training institutes run by minorities, in the annual budget.
In an interview with AsiaNews, Dr John Dayal, President, All India Christian Council (AICU) said he was committed to "seeking inclusion of Christians and Muslims in the list of Scheduled Castes of the country. We are fighting for justice at national level for all Dalit Christians and we hope that soon the Supreme Court will finally end a historic injustice that was done in 1950." Dayal said the AICU was asking for justice for "the entire Dalit community in India, not only the community in Tamil Nadu". The Catholic activist joined Mgr Fernando in saying that negation of Scheduled Caste status for Dalit Christians was a violation of freedom of worship: "This attitude does not allow people to freely choose their faith, because conversion to Christianity means losing special privileges like educational and employment."
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05/09/2005
14/02/2005
