A study on the condition and status of religious minorities in India

A study on the condition and status of religious minorities in India in the context of representation and reservation with special emphasis on the Muslim religious community.

A Report by : Chaitanya Talla, Faiza Arifn Khan, Navya vemula, Shehanas Pazhoor, Shilanajani Bhattacharyya, (Students of TISS, Hyderabad)

A report on the question: ‘it happens so that a constitutional review committee is set up and you have to address the president of the committee on the question of minority rights and representation. What would your addressal be like? Why?’   

INTRODUCTION

“The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.”-Ayn Rand

India is a land of a multitude of minorities. The subject of minorities in India has always been a perennial source of discussion, debate and deliberations.

A minority can be defined as a group of people with a relatively lesser population as compared to the dominant group of the society in which they live. They possess ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic differences with the rest of the population of their immediate surroundings.This report analyses the condition and status of religious minorities in India in the context of representation and reservation in political and social institutions, with special emphasis on the most celebrated religious minority-the Muslims. Commencing with the reference to the Constitution of India, this report analyses how the constitution has enshrined certain provisions for the minority communities’, especially the religious minorities. Subsequently, the report also examines to what extent these groups are treated in accordance with the tenets of the constitution. In continuation with this, the report tries to ferret out the hidden faults and farces within the constitution in the context of providing reservation to the religious minority groups in various aspects of the political and social sphere.The report evaluates the present status of Muslims in India, while trying to answer why Muslims are the most celebrated minority in India; this has also been substantiated by the analysis of the Sachar Committee Report and the survey conducted by the group members in the Andhra Pradesh Academy of Rural Development (APARD), in the course of the study.The report also engages with the definition of the term ‘minority’ while creating a linkage between the numerical strength of the minorities and the widespread backwardness of the individuals of these communities.The report examines whether religious minorities in India have adequate political representation or not. It also evaluates and weighs the advantages and disadvantages of giving political safeguards to religious minorities in India such as the Muslims. The report also proposes feasible suggestions and practical alternatives to the reservation of all religious minorities in the political arena. The objective of these recommendations is to achieve participation of backward communities including religious minorities in such a way that communal clashes and conflicts may be avoided. In the concluding section of the report, the role of affirmative actions has also been discussed. The entire report is directed towards answering the question: how can individuals be given primary importance in social and political spheres while simultaneously ensuring group rights? INDIAN CONSTITUTION AND RELIGIOUS MINORITIES

The state of religious minorities in India can be traced to the very framework of the constitution.Being the supreme document on the administration of India, the constitution and its content engages with the religious minorities in India while postulating the ideals of how should they be treated through respect and care.

The participation and inclusion of religious minorities in India in the realm of politics is significantly rooted in the Constitutional provisions. In 1948, the first draft of the Constitution was inclusive of the political safeguards for religious minorities in the form of reserved seats in legislatures, quotas in government employment, representation in the Cabinet and the establishment of administrative machinery, which was vested with the duty of supervising and protecting the minority rights. Thus, all minority groups, religious as well as the so-called 'backward' sections were included in the ambit of these provisions in the initial proposals and in the first draft of the Constitution in 1948.

The British administrators ensured and provided political safeguards to all the religious minorities. They were given reservation in the political sphere and separate constituencies were allotted to them. But the sole purpose behind this was to achieve their aim of divide and rule policy in India even though they had claimed that these provisions were aimed at respecting the diversity of religious minorities while ensuring them equal rights of citizenship.

There were many debates and discussions in the constituent assembly regarding the treatment of the minorities especially regarding the subject of provision of reserved political safeguards. But there was a remarkable reversal in which, by the time of the final draft of the Constitution, religious minorities were excluded from the purview of all political safeguards, which came to be restricted mainly to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (the political minority). 

One can recognise a connection between the exclusion of religious minorities from the political realm with the partition of the country and the subsequent events which led to the absence of a strong voice which would have demanded the inclusion of religious minorities in the sphere of political reservations.

Thus the religious minorities were separated from the ambit of the political safeguards that the Indian constitution provides, though at the state level, reservation in government jobs and educational institutions continued to be provided to all religious as well as political minorities.

In the original constitutional document there exist a number of articles regarding the treatment of the minorities. Some of the major constitutional provisions which deal with religious minorities are:

Article 29 and 30 allow the preservation of the culture, script and language for all religious groups. These provisions should ensure minorities’ equal share in state funds and educational institutions, while giving them the freedom of religion and the freedom of setting up their own educational and administrative institutions.

Along with this, part XVI of the constitution of Article 330 provides the reservation of seats for SCs/STs in the House of the People. In Article 332 there is also a provision of reservation of seats for schedule caste and schedule tribes in the legislative assemblies of the state. 

Article 335 gives reservation to SCs and STs in central and state government jobs and services. This is applicable for OBCs as per the recommendations of the Mandal commission report. In accordance with the implementation of this report, 27 % of the reservations are provided for the OBCs in the centre and state level educational institutions and services.

The 73rd and 74th Amendment Acts provide SCs/STs and OBCs with reservation to the seats of the Panchayat Raj institutions. On analysis of the 73rd and 74th Amendment Act, we can infer that under the guise of OBCs, certain religious communities, such as Muslims are implicitly included in the political realm, which defies the Constitution as it does not provide any representation to religious minorities such as the Muslims.MINORITIES: AN INSIGHTOn analysis of the constitutional provisions it is evident that, though the Indian constitution provides special protection to minority groups, only the SCs and STs are considered as the political minority, and hence are given political safeguards while religious minorities are excluded from the provision of political reservation. 

Even though minorities are identified by their relatively lesser numerical strength, one needs to restrain from restricting minorities to a numerical concept. One can do justice to the definition of a minority only by emphasising on the backwardness and social subjugation that minorities face and endure. For example, Hyderabad is a city with a majority of Muslims but still they are considered to be the minority group. This consideration is primarily due to the backwardness of the Muslims in the city. This backwardness includes educational as well as economic backwardness which translate into the social backwardness of individuals within the religious minority community. Backwardness is indeed an intrinsic part of a minority community. In fact, as substantiated by the example of Hyderabad, it is appropriate to state that a community can be called a minority on the basis of its backwardness and not only on the basis of its lesser numerical strength.

 PROMINENCE OF MUSLIMS AS A MINORITY

Muslims are the most celebrated religious minority community in India. All questions and debates around religious minority issues automatically direct towards the Muslim Community. Among the many religious minorities of India, Muslims are the major minority. Muslims become central to all religious minority debates in India because though they are the majority among minorities, they also receive the largest share of backwardness in the society. In fact, it can be inferred that their backwardness is more conspicuous than their numerical strength, which makes them the most prominent religious minority in India.  Backwardness of Muslims: An analysis of the Sachar Committee Report. 

The backwardness of the Muslims in India is brought to light by the Sachar Committee Report which has reviewed the conditions of Muslims in socio-economic spheres. The report has identified many problems that Muslims face such as identity related issues which brand them as anti-nationalists, security related concerns which make them feel insecure and inferior, leading to ghettorization. Equity related issues like widespread discrimination and prejudices against the Muslims in the social arena are also prominent. The findings of the Sachar Committee report also elaborate the low educational profiles of Muslims, low participation in public sector jobs, limited involvement in Government programmes and unequal access to benefits provided by the Government. The report also emphasizes on the low living standards of Muslims in general, which lead to widespread poverty and deprivation.

Survey of APARD.

In the course of the survey that was conducted in the Andhra Pradesh Academy of Rural development (APARD), Mr. Moiz Khan, Personal Secretary to the commissioner of APARD was interviewed. From the information that was provided by him it was evident that among the total 215 members of this particular Governmental institution, only 10 members were Muslims. Out of these 10, 5 were in official positions and the rest were contractors and drivers.  He also stated that even the educated and efficient Muslims were not getting the right representation in the Governmental educational institutions and in Government jobs. Thus, these findings from the survey justify and validate the Sachar committee report.

The interview with one of the drivers, Mr. Manzoor Ali, provided an insight into the backwardness of Muslims in his village. The adults in his village were not educated at all, resulting in acute backwardness. He himself had been educated till the 9th standard. His account threw light on the low educational profile of Muslims in his village, leading us to understand the general backwardness of Muslims in villages. Thus, all these vouch for the backwardness of the Muslims in and around Hyderabad.

As mentioned in the Sachar Committee Report, Muslims are faced with issues of insecurity and inferiority, which lead to widespread discrimination against Muslims. It was evident from the account of Mr. Manzoor Ali, that there exists a perennial communal tension in Hyderabad, as a result of which the Muslim community is always under the threat of being oppressed and victimised. All these factors point towards the tyranny of the majority that is capable of posing potential threats to the well being and welfare of religious minorities like the Muslims.

On analyzing the Sachar Committee Report, it was observed that the conditions of Muslims in the spheres of education, poverty, employment, security and other social indicators are regressive and more backward as compared to the conditions of SCs and STs in these social parameters. This reveals the farce that is enshrined in the Indian Constitution in the form of political safeguards and reservations to SCs and STs, as opposed to religious minorities like the Muslims who are even more backward than the SCs and STs, but do not receive any political safeguards.

MUSLIM RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY AND POLITICAL REPRESENTATION

 The context of exclusion of religious minorities from political reservations leads us to the burning question that is political representation through reservation for religious minorities such as the Muslims a panacea for their social and economic backwardness?

By analysing the benefits that the increasing political representation brings to the minority community, it can be assumed that through political reservations, the minority community will get a say in the policy making of the government, leading to better implementation of favourable policies and welfare schemes for the minority communities. Also, giving political representation to minorities shall not lead to partiality as there exists a system of joint electorates. This joint electorate system forces the representatives to be impartial as support of all religious communities is required by the representative in order to get re-elected in the next election. The community from which the representative comes will be benefitted, without curbing other communities’ opportunities to avail similar benefits. Thus, in this way, the overall condition of the religious minority community can be improved.

But on analysis of the negative impacts of political reservation to the religious minorities, it can be identified that giving political representation to the religious minorities can lead to communalism and fundamentalism. In this way, Political reservations will directly translate into political identity becoming synonymous to religious identity, due to the prevalence of religious homogeneity in the political arena as a result of reservation to religious minorities. So this kind of politics along religious lines will lead to increasing support of Muslims towards pro-Muslim parties, as opposed to the Hindus favouring the pro-Hindutva parties. Thus each community will start creating political parties along the lines of their own religion. This may potentially lead to a complete polarization of the Indian society.

Thus, by giving religion a space in politics, we are directly inching towards the situation of communal violence and clashes between religions. Such disturbances will lead to ineffective implementation of policies. Looking back at historical evidence, we find that the desires and demands of the Muslim League, which was a religiously homogenously political party, led to the partition of the country.

The political desires of Muslim league and the subsequent partition of the country had led to major differences in the Northern and Southern parts of India. In the north, the partition caused a gaping brain drain, as the majority of Muslim intellectuals migrated to east and West Pakistan. Also, the Muslims agitated for the status of Urdu as the national Language, which lead to further conflicts, finally resulting in the overall backwardness of the Muslims in Northern India. As contrasted with northern India, southern India did not undergo tensions and conflicts regarding the claims of Urdu being the national language. Also, the political structure of the Southern region especially Kerala contribute to the relative improvement of the Muslim community as compared to Northern India.

POLITICAL REPRESENTATION WITHOUT COMMUNAL CONFLICTS: AN ALTERNATIVE IDEA.

At the very onset, there needs to be a proper categorization of the religious minority community in itself, as there exists internal differences within the community. Because of this, many of the benefits that the government offers are availed only by the affluent and powerful groups within the religious community, depriving those who are actually backward, within the very same religious community. Thus, it is very essential to identify and categorize the people of any religious community on the lines of social and economic backwardness.

According to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Act, 1990, the Scheduled castes only accommodate backward groups among Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs. So, if a Scheduled Caste member converts into Islam from Hinduism, he/she will lose his/her identity as a scheduled caste as Muslims are not included in the category of SCs. This also directly implies the fact that on converting to Islam, the former SC member would also lose his/her right to political representation through reservation, even though the condition of backwardness still persists with the individual. Thus, the status of SCs should be made religion neutral. Religious neutrality in the case of Scheduled Castes will enable people to freely choose their religious faith while accommodating backward individuals across both majority and minority religious communities in the purview of the reserved category of SCs. This will greatly enable religious minorities such as the Muslims to increase their involvement in Politics through reservation on the basis of backwardness.Hence, the category of Scheduled Castes should be broadened and every individual who has been identified as backward across all religious communities, both minority and majority should be accommodated under the SC community and given political representation.This brings us to the question of how political representation can be tactfully ensured for the religious minority groups in such a way that it leads to proper implementation of policies, while preventing the resurgence of fundamentalism, communalism and communal violence.Ever since the time of independence, political parties formed on religious lines, such as the Muslim League were one of the major causes behind the fragmentation of the nation into two. Even in recent times, such political parties are capable of inviting threats of fundamentalism and communalism, thus putting national unity at stake.So, yet another possible and practical solution would be integrating people from various religious communities into larger national level parties and making them contest elections. Thus, when homogenous religious parties get amalgamated into larger national level political parties which accommodate individuals from all religions, this has a direct effect in policy making as grievances of minority groups get larger exposure and hence get addressed and resolved in a more effective way.

For instance in Kerala, the Muslim league party of the state is amalgamated with the Congress Party, resulting in a coalition which is known as the UDF- (United Democratic Fund).

Such instances of collaboration are also found in Canada. According to Andrew Reynolds (2008) “Francophone Canadian parliamentarians are overwhelmingly found on the benches of the Bloc Quebecois, but other parliamentarians from minority communities are found in all the main political parties”. (Page no: 5/ Promoting Inclusive Parliaments: The Representation of Minorities And Indigenous People In the Parliament/2008)

Hence, it can be inferred that it is not religion, but socio-economic backwardness, being an integral part of minority religious communities, should be accorded more significance. There are many groups within the minority religion that are economically and socially backward. Hence, it is more important to look into the backwardness of a religious minority and adopt measures to alleviate such misery. In fact, backwardness does not limit itself to religious minorities only. Thus, one should direct policies towards backward groups of individuals across all religious communities both majority and minority, as an aftermath of proper identification and categorisation of backward individuals. This can be achieved through affirmative actions.

ALLEVIATING BACKWARDNESS: AFFIRMATIVE ACTIONS

Taking into account the backwardness and the low education profile of religious minorities such as the Muslims , it can inferred that even though they are provided with political reservations, there backwardness will prevent them from developing commendable leadership qualities and level-headed judgments which will in turn make them vulnerable to fundamentalism and communalism. Thus, we need to think beyond the mere provisions of political representation. The need of the hour is the empowerment of the backward communities. This can be done through various affirmative actions such as setting up of educational institutions in backward Muslim areas and providing scholarship to the meritorious students among the backward communities. Also, through proper categorization, the deserving category within the community should be made capable of availing these benefits.

 Also, there should be proper channelization and implementation of policies in spheres of education, employment, financial empowerment, and other social security measures. Along with providing equal citizenship to all individuals, the society should strive towards recognising and respecting the diversity of religious minorities. Along with proper political administration, certain non political institutions such as NGOs should also be bestowed with the duty of spreading awareness and empowerment.

 CONCLUSION:

As an aftermath of engaging with the subject of political reservation to religious minorities, it can be inferred that one needs to give more importance and prominence to the individual, through recognition and realization of the problems that individuals face as a result of backwardness. Thus, it can be asserted that once the individual of any religious community, both majority and minority is protected socially, economically and politically, it will lead to a general alleviation of the backwardness of the entire religious community to which the individuals belong. Thus, one needs to look beyond the subject of religion and focus on the backwardness of individuals within the religious community. Hence, reservation should not be along the lines of religion but along the lines of identified backwardness across all religious groups both majorities and minorities. Consequently, as a result of proper categorisation and identification, if backwardness across all religious communities is identified and politically represented, it will lead to an egalitarian social structure in which communal conflicts will be curbed, and socio-economic backwardness will be alleviated, paving way for the harmonious co-existence of various religions in the Indian society.