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Govt to keep Muslims, Christians
out of SC list
WSN Bureau
NEW DELHI:
The
proposal to give Scheduled Caste status to a child with either
parents as Dalit has taken a curious turn, with the Centre making
changes to ensure that it does not give a backdoor entry to
Christians and Muslims into the SC list which is restricted to
Sikhs, Hindus and Buddhists.
Social justice
ministry has revived the proposal by which it plans to make a child
eligible for SC status if either the mother or father are SC. It
seeks to undo a Supreme Court ruling that caste in Indian context
flows from the father, clarifying that child of a non-Dalit father
cannot be a Dalit.
After hanging
fire for over two years, during which it attracted opposition from
different quarters including National Commission for SCs, the
ministry has modified the proposal with a small twist of real
consequence. The earlier draft merely said "the child born of
inter-caste marriage shall be taken as belonging to SC if either of
the parents belong to that community".
It has now been
modified to include that "if either of the parent belong to such a
caste (SC) and the other parent belongs to neither SC nor ST but
professes one of the religions which a person belonging to SC may
profess".
The fresh move
means that SC status to children from mixed parentage would require
the non-Dalit parent to be either Hindu, Buddhist or Sikh. Only the
followers of these three faiths are eligible for SC status. The
change, sources said, is to accommodate concerns over the proposal.
It was feared that if SC status was made available to a child from
mixed parentage, it could undo the religion barrier put on being a
Dalit. While Dalit converts to Christianity and Islam have been
demanding that SC category be extended to them, the Centre has found
it too sensitive to handle.
15 October 2008
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