Caste Census: Sources deny media claims that Pasmanda Muslims will get reservations under OBC quota, clarify that caste of Muslims will be recorded
The Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category might include Pasmanda Muslims list in the caste census, according to a report in The Indian Express. This was reportedly confirmed by the leaders of the OBC Morcha and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Minority Morcha. Muslims have been listed as a distinct, singular bloc in every official census to date, including the last one in 2011. According to the Sachar Committee’s report, 40% of Muslims in India are OBC or Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (all India 2004-05).
However, Pasmanda activists and scholars claim that 80–85% of India’s Muslim population is Pasmanda. This roughly corresponds with the 1871 Census, which found that 81% of Muslims in India belonged to lower castes and only 19% belonged to upper castes. National enumeration cannot be as random as the Telangana caste survey, according to K Laxman, national president of the BJP’s OBC Morcha, who distinguished between the surveys carried out in Telangana and Bihar.
On the other hand, the impending caste census will cover the caste of Muslims as well, sources stated on 2nd May, reported India Today, however, they explained that since religiously motivated reservations are illegal, the demand for Muslim reservations will not be granted. Nonetheless, everyone will have access to a caste column in addition to the religion column. This procedure will document several castes within the Muslim community.
It is anticipated that the census process will start in the following two to three months. Soon, the official appointment deputation process will begin. Within 15 days after all the necessary preparations have been concluded, the actual census will take place. Furthermore, Aadhaar, biometric information and artificial intelligence will all be used in this digital census. The whole report will be released following the data analysis, which might take a year or two.
The government intends to implement women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for 2029. The delimitation procedure will start after the census is completed next year. A commission will be established and will travel to each state to prepare the report. The current 27% quota cap in government positions and educational institutions could be reviewed in light of the growing number of OBCs.
“What is the point of just enumerating Pasmanda Muslims in a separate category? Some state lists of OBCs already do this. The central government should ideally look for socio-economic upliftment of Pasmanda Muslims, by including Dalit Muslims in the Scheduled Caste list, for example. They are not ready to do this,” Pasmanda Muslim leader Ali Anwar Ansari stated.
The inclusion of Pasmanda Muslims among OBCs, according to Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) Rajya Sabha MP Haris Beeran, would be another attempt to create “some sort of a division within the community.” He asked, “When the Supreme Court itself has said that Muslims as a group are backward, what is the rationale for subdividing them without giving any inkling of uplifting the community?”
Meanwhile, the Justice Rohini Commission’s report on subcategorisation inside reservations has not yet been addressed. The matter might be brought up again after the census. According to others, the approach would jeopardize the current protections for the OBC, SC, and ST populations. The procedures for the caste census might be discussed with representatives of all political parties. Internal conflicts within the I.N.D.I. Alliance over the census and delimitation could lead to a debate between the North and the South.
Reservation requests in the private sector, meanwhile, have been deemed unfounded. The private sector resisted these demands, even though they were made during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s administration as well. Private educational institutions are already covered under Article 15(5). It enables the state to enact special laws that explicitly address the admission of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to educational institutions, as well as the advancement of socially and educationally disadvantaged segments of citizens. With the exception of minority educational institutions, both state-aided and unaided private educational institutions are covered by this clause.
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