NCDHR WELCOMES ' ST STEPHEN’S HISTORIC QUOTA FORMULA FOR DALITS
Tanveer Kazi
NATIONAL CAMPAIGN ON DALIT HUMAN RIGHTS
PRESS STATEMENT
NEW DELHI, 18 JUNE 2007
NCDHR WELCOMES ' ST STEPHEN'S HISTORIC QUOTA FORMULA FOR DALITS
NCDHR welcomes the Historic move by the St. Stephen's College to give preferential admission to the Dalit students in this Prestigious Institution of higher learning. From the current academic session on wards, 20% percent of the total 400 seats will be exclusively reserved for Dalit as per the new reservation formula announced by the Principal of this Delhi based Institution. NCDHR supports this move and also appreciates the Principal for this important pioneer step in empowering Dalits.
St. Stephan's College has shown the way forward for the wider society as well as the private sector and the corporate to ensure there is representation of the diversity in the institution of those desirous of studying – especially to the SCs whose entitlement to education has been denied and suppressed which further increased their vulnerability to violence and exclusion. St. Stephan's has also showed that there is also sufficient justification in extending this reservation to the Dalits Christians. This is currently being debated extensively despite the fact that religion has hardly made a difference to the treatment of Dalits either within the religion or with those of other religions.
As far as higher education is concerned, the enrollment of Dalit students at the graduate, post-graduate, and professional/Ph.D research levels was abysmally low. By 2001, 3.4% of the Dalit men over the age of 15 and only 1% of the Dalit women over the age of 15 alone had a post-secondary education of any kind. For Dalit men this was less than half of the percentage of non-Dalit men, while the Dalit women's percentage was less than a quarter of the percentage of non-Dalit women.
Despite the steady growth in higher-level educational infrastructure in this country, since Independence, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) stated in its report for 1996-97 and 1997-98 that "It has been observed that the enrolment of the SC and ST in general, technical and non technical is not satisfactory. This situation is alarming in technical and professional courses where most of the SC\ST seats remain unfilled." Many universities do not even follow the University Grant Commission (UGC) guidelines regarding both the relaxation of admission standards and the facilities to be provided to the SC&ST students.
Dalit Christians, who are equally discriminated both inside and outside the church demand Scheduled Caste Status for more than 5 decades, to get access to the constitutional privilege mainly in the areas of Education and Employment and also to get protection from the Atrocities unleashed on them in the name of Caste based discrimination by the Non Dalits. Currently a PIL lies in the Supreme Court of India challenging the Presidential Order of 1950, which denies their right to access to SC status.
This step by the St Stephen's College to give preferential admissions to Dalit Christian is on the line of recent recommendations of the Justice Rangnath Misra National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities which strongly proclaimed that Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims must be given the status of Scheduled Caste enabling them to avail the privilege that has already been enjoyed by Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist Dalits. "Religion cannot come in the way of empowerment and development of a people subjugated for three millennia".
NCDHR believes that this constructive step by the St. Stephen's college will certainly go a long way in the empowerment of Dalits (16% of the total population) and Dalit Christians who constitute more than 80% of the Indian Christian community which is forced to deprive of their rights both inside and outside the Church. We congratulate the stand of Rev. Valson Thampu for initiating this measure with a conviction that Education is a tool to bring Equality in Society, and it should be made available to all especially to those who are discriminated and marginalized.
The usual argument that this type of Reservation will go against the "concept of merit" and also it will divide the Christian Community is not only baseless but also an indirect way of thwarting attempts to bring Social Justice in this nation.
While strongly appreciating and welcoming this constructive move of the St. Stephen's College, NCDHR also calls for, all the Christian Institutions in this country to take note of this Historical Move and introduce such measures in their Institutions as well, to address the issue of Caste Based Discrimination and also for the advancement of Dalits and especially the Dalit Christians who are yet to regain their Human Personality in the wider society as well as within the Church. We encourage St. Stephan College to also allocate certain quota for female students as well as faculty. This will ensure strength in the entire community and the necessary diversity to emerge.
J. VINCENT MANOHARAN Dr. Vimal Thorat
General Secretary - NCDHR. All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch - AIDMAM
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Tanveer Kazi
National Secretary
National Campaign On Dalit Human Rights
8/1,2nd Floor, South Patel Nagar
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