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| Syed Shahabuddin is a well known in the political and academic circles as well as in the mass media and does not need an introduction. In his many incarnations he has been a university teacher, a diplomat, who served as an ambassador and a government official who was at the time of his seeking pre-mature retirement, the Joint Secretary in charge of South East Asia, the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in the Ministry of External Affairs. He was a MP for three terms between 1979 and 1996 and made a mark as a Parliamentarian. He has edited Muslim India, the monthly journal of research, documentation and reference from 1983 to 2002 and again from July 2006. He has been a regular contributor on current affairs in the media and a familiar participant in seminars and TV discussions. He has been a member of many learned bodies and associated with several Muslim institutions and organizations. More... |
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8 June, 2009 |
| Salman Khurshid, Union Minister of Minority Affairs on equal opportunity Commission on substitute for Reservation. After you have taken charge as Union Minister for Minority Affairs, you have in a number of statements spoken of the proposed Equal Opportunity Commission which was suggested originally by the Sachar Committee as a priority project. As you are aware, the previous government had appointed the Menon Committee to examine the proposal. The Committee had submitted its report. I recall that the Committee had envisaged the proposed EOC as an advisory body with no executive authority. I request you to study this report. I am not inclined to believe that such a deliberative Commission can be at all helpful to the victims of bias and prejudice, at the lower levels of administrative say, recruitment of school teachers or constables in a county of continental dimension like ours. The situation in advanced countries with their dense population, high level of education, network of NGOs and accessibility is totally different. Our EOC will end up as yet another exercise in tokenism without any perceptible benefits. To be effective, the EOC will have to have executive power as well as offices in state capitals and district headquarters. But it would be better not be set up a parallel structure but to strengthen the NCM and establish an organic relationship between it and the state minority commission. I, therefore, request you that the Government should consider the alternative of providing the existing National Commission for Minorities adequate resources in men and money and vest it with legal authority to deal with complaints relating to religions and caste discrimination from villages and towns throughout the country, those who have been denied equal opportunity. The NCM Act has a relevant provision. II-Letter to Salman Khurshid, Union Minister of Minority Affairs on Reservation for Muslims, 13 June, 2009 I have been watching with increasing dismay your campaign against reservation for Muslims, although, it has been clarified many times that Muslims are entitled to reservation under Article 16(4) if and only if they constitute a backward class. Debates in the Constituent Assembly, Supreme Court judgment in Sawhney case and Vankatachallia Commission Report have confirmed this. Subsequently, the Sachar Report found that the Muslim community is almost as backward as SC/ST and more backward than non-Muslim OBCs. Moreover, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and A.P. have recognized Muslims as Backward Class. Finally, the Mishra Commission has recommended 15% reservation for the religious minorities, out of which 10% exclusively for Muslims. Our expectation was that you would get your government to table Mishra Commission Report to open a national debate. Instead of that you have been speaking against the reservation for Muslims on a daily basis, as if your objective was to strengthen the hands of those who wish to bury the Mishra Report. We expected a more sophisticated approach from a jurist of your stature. The really tough nut to break is the ceiling of 50% imposed by the Supreme Court. This is an irrational and unreasonable ceiling. Your government has to persuade the Supreme Court to lift the bar to a variable rational level, leaving it to each state to decide the ceiling in accordance with its own situation, the identity and population of backward classes and their relative backwardness which would vary from state to state. Since you have stated that you have not seen the Mishra Report, I am sending you a copy of my compilation which includes relevant extracts from Mishra Report. |
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