JUSTICE RANGANATH MISHRA COMMISSION – POLITY
News: SC
to study if J. Ranganath Mishra panel data can be used to decide on quota for
Dalit converts
What's in the news?
● The
Supreme Court said that a 2007 report of
the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities,
which recommended Scheduled Caste reservation for Dalit converts to
Christianity and Islam, is not all that “perfunctory”, adding that the
government may need to “re-check” its stance on the report.
Key takeaways:
● Rejecting
the Mishra report, the government had recently constituted a new Commission
headed by a former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan, giving it two
years to prepare a report on the question of granting SC status to “new persons
who have historically belonged to the Scheduled Castes but have converted to
religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism”.
● Currently,
the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 provides that only Dalits of
Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist faiths are entitled to be categorized as SC.
Key Notes from Judges:
● Justice
Amanullah said that social stigma may continue to be attached to members of
historically backward communities among Hindus who convert to Islam and
Christianity to overcome caste oppression.
● Justice
Kaul said that the court would look into the question of whether the “caste
system can be imported into Islam and Christianity”.
Justice Ranganath Misra Commission:
● The
2007 report of the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission for Religious and
Linguistic Minorities, which recommended
that Dalits who converted to Islam and Christianity to escape caste oppression
in the Hindu religion should be permitted to avail of Scheduled Caste (SC)
reservation benefits in government jobs and educational institutions.
Balakrishnan Panel:
● The
Union Government has set up a three-member Commission for Inquiry to look into
giving Scheduled Castes status to Dalits who have converted to any religion
other than Sikhism or Buddhism.
● The
Commission will be headed by former Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and will
have as its members UGC member Prof. Sushma Yadav, and retired IAS officer
Ravinder Kumar Jain.
● The
government has set a time of two years
for the Commission to submit its report.