HVK Archives: Threat to today's beneficiaries
Threat to today's beneficiaries - The Indian Express
K V Kumaran
()
23 September 1996
Title : Threat to today's beneficiaries
Author : K V Kumaran
Publication : The Indian Express
Date : September 23, 1996
The controversial Dalit Christian Bill that the P. V.
Narasimha Rao Government sought to move on March 12,
1996, the very last day of the 10th Lok Sabha was enti-
tled: The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amend-
ment) Bill 1996. This Bill made no provision to include
'Dalit-Christians' in the Scheduled Castes lists i.e. the
schedule appended to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes)
Order, 1950 promulgated under Article 341 (1) of the
Constitution. But the Bill made provision to induct
'Christian religion' as such in para 3 of that order.
The order originally stipulated that no person who pro-
fesses a religion different from Hindu religion shall be
deemed to be a SC. The Sikh and Buddhist religions are
deemed to be offshoots of Hindu religion and Parliament
accordingly included these two religions by Act 63 of
1956 and Act 15 of 1990 respectively in para 3 of the
1950 order. The Amendment Bill of 1996 sought inclusion
of Christian religion in this paragraph.
Christianity is a religion entirely different from the
Hindu religion. The then Speaker, Shivraj Patil, disal-
lowed permission to introduce the Bill for want of the
seven-day statutory notice. Thereafter the Central Gov-
ernment moved the President to promulgate that Bill as an
Ordinance. The President did not oblige. The Deve Gowda
Government's move is to reintroduce the very same Bill
under Article 341(2) of the Constitution.
Article 341(2) empowers Parliament to make law for inclu-
sion in or exclusion from the schedule appended to the
Presidential Order of 1950. Article 341(2) is specific
that even the President has no power to modify the Order
of 1950. It, therefore, follows that the powers of
Parliament under Article 341(2) are limited to the inclu-
sion in or exclusion of castes from the 1950 schedule.
The Christian religion is different from Hindu religion.
the inclusion of Christian religion by Parliament in the
Presidential Order of 1950 is therefore, not in accor-
dance with Article 341(2) of the Constitution.
The Presidential Order of 1950 was promulgated in consul-
tation with the States as required under Article 341(2)
of the Constitution. Such consultation is a condition
precedent to any modification to that order under Article
341(2). The Centre has now asked for the views of the
States for their views on the proposed amendment. There
is, therefore, time for a public discussion on this Bill,
especially in view of the fact that if Parliament passes
it the consequences would be reduction in the number of
general constituencies in addition to the detriment it
would cause to the existing SCs.
Articles 330 and 332 are specific that seats in the Lok
Sabha and State Assemblies shall be reserved for SC/ST in
proportion to their actual population. P. C. Thomas. MP
from Kerala, stated in the Lok Sabha on March 12, 1996
that the Bill would confer benefits on 30 lakhs of Chris-
tians of Kerala. Christians in Kerala constitute 20.56
per cent of the population. The Christians account for
59 lakhs in Kerala. Ale Scheduled Castes population in
Kerala is only 10 per cent (29 lakhs). The total number
of constituencies in Kerala for the Lok Sabha is 20 and
for State Assembly is 140. Of this two are reserved for
SCs for the Lok Sabha. The State Assembly has reserved
13 out of 140 seats for SCs and one for STs.
If Parliament had passed the Bill in question the SC
population in Kerala would have been increased to 59
lakhs inclusive of P. C. Thomas's 30 lakhs of neo-SC
Christians. This amounts to 20 per cent of the State's
population. The indispensable constitutional consequences
of this would have been increase in the number of SC
Reserved constituencies from the existing 2 to 4 for Lok
Sabha and from 13 to 26 for State Assembly. This can be
given effect to only by proportionate reduction in the
number of general constituencies from the existing 18 to
16 for Lok Sabha and 126 to 113 for the State Assembly as
far as Kerala is concerned. The reduction in the number
of general constituencies in other States depends on the
number of Christian beneficiaries from this Bill. Did
the Founding Fathers anticipate such a reduction in the
number of general constituencies 50 years after indepen-
dence? The law on this subject has its origin in the
Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order 1936, which
continued to be in force till the Constitution (SC)
Order, 1950 promulgated by the President of India under
Article 341 (1) of the Constitution came into effect.
The 1936 Order stipulated that no Indian Christian shall
be deemed to be a member of the Scheduled Caste. This
exclusion of the Christians from the purview of SC bene-
fits was because of the fact that untouchability and
disabilities arising out of this did not exist in Chris-
tianity in those days.
The proceedings of the Constituent Assembly reveal that
the Founding Fathers wanted the President to re-enact the
Government of India SC Order of 1936 while promulgating
the Constitution SC Order of 1950, under Article 341(1).
The Constitution ensures minority rights to Christians.
The Christian representatives in the Constituent Assembly
took a stand that reservation shall not be on the basis
of religion. Presumably, these are the reasons why para
3 of the 1950 Order stated that no person who professes a
religion different from Hindu religion shall be deemed to
be a member of the Scheduled Caste. Our Constitution by
Explanation II to Article 25 clarifies that Hindu reli-
gion includes Sikh and Buddhist religions.
This is not at all discriminatory to Christians as un-
touchability and disabilities arising therefrom do not
exist in Christianity. The exclusion of Christians com-
menced by a declaration in the Government of India Order
of 1936 stood the test for all these 60 long years and
there is no reason to reopen the issue. If the Chris-
tianity is now included Islam will also have to be added
to para 3 of the SC Order of 1950.
The Supreme Court directive that overall reservation in
service shall not exceed 50 per cent stands in the way of
enhancing the existing SC quota. As a result, existing
SCs will have to compete with the neo-SC Christians for
the reserved jobs in service and seats in colleges. This
would result in the grabbing of all benefits of SCs
reservation by the neo-Christian SCs, as neo-SC Chris-
tians are more advanced than the present-day SCs in every
respect.
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