Recently, the Dalit Christians and Muslims have staged protests all over the country demanding Scheduled Caste (SC) status. They have argued that the Constitution Scheduled Castes Order, 1950 must be religion neutral to include them among the SCs.
They are of the opinion that change of faith has not contributed much in upgrading their earlier caste identity and social status; rather they continue to suffer segregation as before. As per the SCs Order, they have to be within Hindu, Sikhs and Buddhist fold. Though untouchability is abolished by law, but affirmative measures have been implemented by the Government from time to time to protect the SCs from suffering humiliation and indignity.
The Right to Religion is a Fundamental Right and secularism is the basic character of our Constitution. Every adult has a right to choose his/her faith. The Constitution has provisions of protection against discrimination based on caste, religion, sex, or place of birth, based on which affirmative actions are being intended as reparation.
During the British rule in India, an attempt was made to identify untouchable communities in the Census of 1931 under category of depressed classes. Later under Government of India Act, 1935, a list of SCs was prepared based on criteria primarily considering social barriers where untouchability was the main reference.The Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1936 says that no Indian Christian shall be deemed to be a member of a SC. In Bengal no person who professes Buddhism or a tribal religion shall be deemed to be a member of SC.
Because largely it was understood that the concept of caste and outcaste is very specific to Hindu social order and it has a mention in religious texts such as Atharva Veda and Manusmruti which speak about division of Hindu society into castes with caste based occupations along with rules and sanctions against social relations to that effect.
The other non-Hindu religions have no such official division and this concept of social hierarchy and untouchability find no mention in their scriptures such as the Quran and Bible. So the first SC list prepared by the British Government had limited it to untouchables within Hindu fold. Dr Ambedkar did not find any fault with the order and later he converted to Buddhism in 1956 with his large followers by denouncing SC status.
The independent India followed the British path as the Constitution SC Order 1950 confined the SCs to Hindu religion only, whereas in case of STs, religion was not a barrier to their ST status. The amendments in the SC Order were made in 1956 to include the Majbhi Sikh and in 1990 to include the Dalit Buddhists in SC fold.
The Dalit Christians and Muslims who constitute a bigger size within their own faith groups have been demanding an inclusion in the SC list though they both have already acquired space under backward classes’ entries as OBCs and SCBCs. But they are trying for a legal link to come back to their old social root to get assimilated with other socially homogeneous groups under the broader category of SCs.Along with Hinduism, India is home to three major religions, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Historically, conversion has taken place in India for a number of historical, socio-economic and political reasons. Both upper castes, intermediary castes and Dalits have converted to Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and Buddhism. But experience in India shows that conversion to any religion has not contributed much in upgrading the social status of the Dalits. The age old Indian social system has influenced the social system of non-Hindu religion too. It is because most of the upper caste Hindus, converted to other religions, have not changed their attitude towards Dalits even though primarily conversion has been used to change social status and as a protest against discrimination, indignity and unequal treatment.With changing socio-economic scenario, more than religion, the Dalits within religious minority are looking for their participation in ongoing development process and to become a part of the governance system through scope of reservation. Therefore, they want to be a part of any of the existing reserved category in the absence of a direct scope of reservation for minority.
Dalit Christians and Muslims have been experiencing discrimination and segregation even within their own faith group as it has been reported that there are separate burial grounds, churches and mosques for them. Though untouchability is not there like in the Hindu society, but still visible social discrimination is prevalent when it comes to managing religious affairs, social relationships and matrimonial ties.
The upper caste converts dominate in religious affairs, health and educational institutions. Even these institutions serve the interest of the marginalised sections in the least.Legally there are six notified minority communities in India, namely Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis and Jains, which constitute 19 per cent of the population of our country. It is estimated that Dalits constitute a major chunk of the minority population. The Jains and Parsis are exception to the issues of caste based social discrimination.
Justice Rajindara Sachar (2006) and Justice Ranganath Mishra (2007) have detailed in their reports about the status of religious minorities in India. The Dalit Christians and Arzals among Muslims are most vulnerable.
It is said that a majority of them are still in caste based occupations; landlessness is very high in their groups and their hamlets lack basic amenities for a dignified living. Their share in governance, public sector jobs, education, business and other segments is quite insignificant which is disproportionate to their population. In recent years, there has been feeling of growing insecurity and alienation among them due to rise in religious fundamentalism, organised violence against Muslim and Christian minorities in Gujarat, Odisha, UP, Chhattisgarh, MP and many other parts of the country. There have been reports of mob-lynching, burning of Churches and forcibly preventing people to practice and propagate their faiths.
The protective legislations for SCs and STs such as POA Act and Civil Rights Act are not applicable to them though they face the same discrimination not because of their faith rather more because of their caste identity.
The religion neutral inclusion in SCs will increase their number and also will lead to increased share in reservation. It will bring more inclusiveness among the diverse historically deprived sections to access affirmative action policies of the Government.