Dalit Muslims next on quota agenda

SACHAR ENTANGLE: The PMO has called a meeting to discuss reservations for Dalit Muslims.

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New Delhi: This was an observation by the Sachar Panel on the affirmative action for Muslim OBCs - "It would be most appropriate if the lowest caste among the Muslims are absorbed in the Scheduled Caste list, or at least a separate category as Most Backwards Category (MBC) out of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) is created".

It's this tricky and sensitive issue dealt at length by the Sachar Panel that is bothering the Government - Should the lowest strata among the Muslims be included in the Scheduled Caste list and extended benefits accordingly?

CNN-IBN has learnt that a meeting in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has been called on February 5 to discuss if it is possible to bring Dalit Muslims in the purview of reservations and the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment has been asked to put up file before the PMO.

The list of the SC is defined by the Constitutional Schedule Caste Order - also called the Presidential Proclamation of 1950 - as thus: "While the Dalits among the Sikhs and Buddhists have been included in the list, Muslims and Christians of the same category have been left out.

After the Sachar Panel report there has been a growing demand in certain sections to include Dalit Muslims in the list as well.

The Sachar Committee has put Muslims in three categories

• The Ashrafs, who trace their origin to foreign land, the upper caste Hindus who converted to Islam.

• The Ajlafs, who are referred to as middle caste Hindu converts from professional groups.

The Azral, those who converted to Islam from the lowest strata among Hindus.

The second and the third category were included in the OBC list by the Mandal Commission, but the Sachar Committee reports that the Azrals being at the bottom of the social hierarchy need to be handled separately.

It's been an issue that the various ministries in the Government have been trying to skirt.

A committee constituted by the Human Resource Development Ministry to implement the Sachar Panel report is also likely skirt the issue and pass the buck on to the Social Justice Ministry.