The Supreme Court ruled in August, 2005 that the Government lacked the constitutional prerogative to enforce caste-based reservations or interfere in the fee structure of private unaided educational institutions. The Congress-led administration tabled legislation this month to circumvent this ruling. Parliament passed the 104th Amendment to the Constitution on December 22, 2005, allowing the Government to enforce caste-based reservations and influence the fee structure in private universities and schools. The Amendment exempts religious and linguistic minority schools from its purview. Article 30(1) of the Constitution had given such schools freedom to pursue their own policies. This discrepancy has adverse implications.
The scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes and the "backward" castes are Indians like any other citizen. The new legislation is an opportunity for hitherto marginalized caste groups to have improved access to education. The challenge, however, would be to limit the policy of reservations to a time-bound schedule.
The caveat exempting religious minority educational institutions from the purview of the 104th Amendment is disturbing. For one, it segments educational policy according to religious affiliation. Christian educational institutions had thrived in independent India given the freedom afforded to them by Article 30 (1) of India's constitution. This is in contrast to most Asian countries. Hindu schools are denied this autonomy. 8 in 10 Christians in India belong to the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and "backward" caste groups. And yet the student intake in Christian schools does not reflect this social dynamic. The predominantly upper-caste church hierarchy, the largely non-Dalit priesthood and the Christian denominational schools have not addressed Dalit interests. The network of church schools in the North East and Jharkhand are not bound to ensure reservations for scheduled tribe students either. This is clearly an injustice.
While the Nehruvian mandate safeguards religious minority schools from Government interference, it inadvertently leads to a policy of "separate but equal". The Government can dictate student admissions, fee structure and curriculum in Hindu denominational schools. It can not do so with regards to Christian and Muslim schools although many of these schools receive subsidized state grants. A policy of apartheid in the educational realm militates against the basic structure of the Indian constitution.
The only sustainable solution would be to ensure that all schools are subject to uniform policies of accreditation, caste inclusiveness and gender equity regardless of religious affiliation. The Government can start by reviewing the performance of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions. Failure to do so would lead to acrimonious referrals to the Supreme Court by irate petitioners. And the entire edifice of the 104th Amendment might then be over-turned.
Monday, December 26, 2005
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9 comments:
Jaffna ,
Here in Uttar Pradesh the state government schools are steeped in hindi/hindu/hindustan ethos which is we muslims sometimes felt left out.
Sharpening Communal Faultlines
By Sandhya Jain
Organiser
25 December, 2005
A new communal faultline has been added to the body politic vide the 104th Constitution Amendment Bill which provides reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in unaided private educational institutions, including schools, but excludes minority institutions from its ambit.
The legislation is fraught with dangers for the homogeneity and integrity of Indian society as a whole, and should never have been passed in such haste. It bears noting that the Supreme Court is currently hearing a petition demanding inclusion of Dalit Christians among Scheduled Castes for reservation benefits. Dalit Muslims have also been making allegations of discrimination against their upper caste Muslim brethren.
Now, the UPA has successfully piloted the most communally divisive legislation the country has seen so far. It identifies institutions of the Hindu majority for divisive intrusion by SCs and STs, and perhaps later also OBCs, and privileges the money-spinning minority institutions.
World-wide, both Christianity and Islam have discriminated against low caste converts, reneging blithely on promises of social equality and economic upliftment. It is this, rather than active or passive discrimination by the secular Indian State, that has resulted in the poor educational status of their adherents. Various Christian denominations mint money by providing school, college and professional education to rich and middle class Hindu children; vigorously evangelize amongst the poor, but deny them true empowerment that comes from education. There can be simply no excuse for low literacy and poor educational opportunities for children of Christian converts, as the church as a whole is a major stakeholder in the education industry.
Islam has fewer elite educational institutions, but it is noteworthy that the Aligarh Muslim University has reserved the majority of its seats for Muslims on the basis of all-India merit competition, which is evidence of a desire to improve the lot of the community. A minority institution that does not dedicate itself to uplifting its own community does not deserve the status of a minority institution, and must be recognized instead as a minority-managed institution of profit.
There is no denying the political disquiet caused by the Bill, which resulted in massive abstentions from Parliament, despite most parties issuing whips to ensure the mandatory two-thirds majority (only 381 out of 522 Members were present). It is being realized across party lines that non-inclusion of minority institutions could prove counter-productive; Left parties have suggested that admissions and fees be monitored in these institutions. HRD Minister Arjun Singh however played to his minority constituency to the hilt, and promised further legislation to bring OBCs under the reservation umbrella.
Mr. Singh had no credible explanation for sneaking in the clause barring minority institutions from the purview of the Bill; however, the religious denomination of the UPA Chairperson is no secret. He spoke about the need to “protect minority rights under all circumstances.” But given the undeniable fact that most Christians and Muslims are converts from the SC and ST communities, the exclusion of minority institutions from the Bill is bad in law and bad in intent. It also gives the Church a virtual license to convert and abandon the converted, while running after fresh recruits. At the same time, the Hindu community is left with the responsibility of educating and caring for a group alienated from its civilizational moorings and nurturing feelings of separation from the majority community. This is truly Machiavellian.
The new legislation makes a mockery of the spirit of Article 15 of the Constitution by discriminating against the Hindu community on grounds of caste, in a manner that could place undue financial burden upon ordinary Hindu households. For instance, schools that have to admit students on the basis of caste rather than merit may also have to provide freeships to keep such students in school, if their families are unable to pay the fees. This will compel them to pass on the burden to ordinary middle class parents, who may already be finding it a struggle to see two children through school. This could have serious ramifications across the country, and is a perfect instance of sterile activism in the service of votebanks.
A far more worthy exercise would be for the State to direct education to specific segments of the population by investing in adequate educational facilities at school level. Just as freer and fairer elections were ensured by the Election Commission by placing ballot boxes closer to the villages and slums that were otherwise excluded from voting, so bringing schools closer to the underprivileged, irrespective of caste or creed, would ensure universal literacy in a non-divisive manner.
Realization of the larger implications of this legislation – intended to overturn a Supreme Court ruling on 12 August 2005 that unaided minority and non-minority institutions can admit students of their choice in medicine, engineering and other professional courses without government interference – has led 20 MPs, including two Ministers, to ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to bring minority institutions under its ambit as several premier minority institutions were either religious or linguistic minorities.
Mr. Manik Rao Gavit, Minister of State for Home and Mr. Panabaki Lakshmi, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, and Mr. R. Gavai, chairman of the Forum of SC/ST Parliamentarians, joined a delegation that presented a memorandum to the Prime Minister. They pointed out that denying deprived communities access to premier minority institutions would lead to crowding of non-minority institutions, and demanded that the matter be referred to the Standing Committee of Parliament on HRD. This is a wise suggestion and Dr. Manmohan Singh would do well to reexamine the issue dispassionately.
1. Such a situation exists in most states in S.India. The poulation mix is such that SC/ST/OBC stdents are studying in most " Hindu' schools. Most of the Christian schools cater to Elite.
2.THis law will effect corporates and Foriegn players who are setting up institutions in India. But they can always use a proxy.
3. In the long run this law will unite Hindus as all sections of the Hindu population will be clubbed together.
4. This will weaken the case of Dalit Christians/Muslims seeking reservations , both in Jobs and in Education.
5. The immediate result is that Govts in South India will loose number of seats in Technical/ Medical colleges from the minorities colleges which earlier was distributed, mainly to SC/ST/OBC.
6. Congress will not gain anything as they have neither understood the raise of middle classs and the aspirations of SC/ST/OBCs
We're quite dissapointed that folks are making this a religious matter -- and using the issue, as the reliably outrageous Sandhya Jain does, to indulge in one more round of minority religion bashing.
This blog is not bigoted and, frankly, the tone of this discussion does not befit these pages.
The real issue here is forcing on private institutions -- that do not take Government aid -- admission criteria that, while likely noble in intent, further institutionalize caste-based stratification in India. This is, in our eyes, an abridgement of constitutinally guaranteed freedom of Indians and their private activities.
We do need mechanisms to ensure that robust educational opportuntiies are available to all Indians, but how this is to be done deserves a real debate -- rather than repeat of the failed reservation-based formulas of the past decades.
Let's please talk about this core issue -- rather than taking this opportunity to bash minority religions.
Incidentally, we are personally not supportive of Government-funded "religious educational institutions" -- even is these are related to minority faiths. Such institutions, if communities feel them necessary, should be funded with private Rupees. But, we are sure that minority-bashing is not the way to resolve this issue either.
Best regards.
PR, where's the minority bashing? There has to be a uniform policy on reservations. There can be no exception just because of the religious status of a school. Either Government has reservations in all private schools or in none. Gov't can not enforce it selectively. The HRD Minister by exempting minority educational institutions has communalized the private sector.
Primary Red: With reference to the scheduled caste children being given special places in Private Unaided Schools but not in minority schools, I realise with trepidation the following - a) all private schools will automatically be down graded. One reads that personalities like Bill Gates wish to select qualified students into his IT programmes. Now with the lowering of standards in these prestigious colleges, will such a brain pool be available in India? b) instead of upgrading the educational standards of the scheduled caste students for which the government of India has failed in the 50 odd years since independence, it is now down grading the standards of private schools - this is very sad indeed! c) it is grossly unfair that the majority is being bashed -I do not see it as minority bashing at all.
Several years ago the Communists in West Bengal choose to intervene in the management of the Ramakrishna mission schools. The Ramakrishna mission filed a petition in the courts to declare themselves a minority group to protect themselves from political interference, a move that the courts threw out. Hindus are being discriminated against by the secular government. The Arya Samaj has already obtained minority status to prevent interference in the schools they run. But the Jains remain ineligible for minority status. All this is secular rubbish.
I want to ask all you guys on this board: Does this Bill change the basic structure of the Indian Constitution? Can this bill pass
constitutional muster? I checked to see the constitutional position of this bill on other blogs that comment on the Indian legal system and they are strangely silent.
The US Supreme Court demolished the separate but equal argument made in Plessey v Ferguson by overturning it in Brown versus Board of Education. Instead of adopting the more progressive Brown view, the Indian Parliament has very subtly adopted the discredited Plessey argument.
Now religious minority schools can function separately in India. WOW
If the caste system is soooo bad , how can it survive? Mind you , there is no force to perpetuate this system. Are there any hidden benifits? Can some one suggest any web sites/books in this regard ?
this is plot by Minority lead UPA against Hindus.In India the issue of minorities is a complex one.The Minority lead UPA govts policies do not provide equal footing to hindoo schools .Actually all hindoos are minorities hindus are minorities castewise,language wise this autonomy privilge should be extended to all.The problem is that the Church want to maintain its supremacy in education.They were early starters in education field being gifted schools by british and want to maintain the lead by all means.
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