NCM for SC status to Dalit Muslims and Christians

NCM for SC status to Dalit Muslims and Christians The National Commission for Minorities has said there is a strong case for according Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Muslims and Christians leading to their being included in the ambit of reservations. A study conducted by the NCM said that Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians are not so distinct from other Dalit groups and an argument for treating them differently could not be sustained. Asserting that not according Scheduled Caste status to the two communities would amount to being discriminatory, the report said, "There are compelling arguments in favour of such an inclusion based on principles of natural justice and fairness". "If no community had already been given SC status, and if the decision to accord SC status to some communities were to be taken today through some evidence-based approach, then it is hard to imagine how District Magistrates and Deputy Commissioners could be excluded," it said. The balance of pragmatic considerations is also in favour of their inclusion, it said. Like in the Sachar Committee report, the study concluded that Dalit Muslims were the worst off as compared to Dalit Christians and their counterparts in other communities like Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs. "With respect to proportions of population in poverty or affluence, Dalit Muslims are unquestionably the worst off among all Dalits, in both the rural and urban sectors," the study said. Dalit Muslims are completely absent in the affluent group for urban India. There is a significant gap between Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians and Dalit Sikhs..., the study said. Dalit Christians may be said to be moderately better off than other Dalits except Dalit Sikhs, who are even better off. Though Dalit Christians have a much higher proportion in poverty than Dalit Sikhs, specially in rural India, they are roughly comparable populations in affluence. When it comes to intra-community comparisons, Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians are a study in contrast. Dalit Muslims are only slightly worse off than non-Dalit Muslims, specially the OBCs, but this is because non-Dalit Muslims are much worse off than their non-Muslim counterparts. In other words, the Muslim community as a whole tends to be very badly off compared to other communities, specially in the urban areas, and consequently the intra-community gap between Dalits and non-Dalits is by far the smallest for Muslims. Another point that is strongly emphasised in this analysis is the serious levels of poverty among urban Muslims of all castes including Dalits. With respect to comparisons of occupational structure, there seem to be no dramatic contrasts in rural India. With respect to comparisons of educational levels, Dalit Muslims are the worst off in rural India in terms of illiteracy, but are closely matched by Hindu Dalits in both rural and urban India.

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