NATIONAL COUNCIL OF DALIT CHRISTIANS
(With the collaboration of Catholic Bishops' Conference of India and National Council of Churches in India )
Invites you to a Rally that starts at 9.00 am from Kerala House, New Delhi- 1 and the Dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi- 1 till 6.00 pm
On 21st July, 2010 (Wednesday) to express the Urgency and Gravity of Christians' Muslims' and Secular-minded peoples'
Just Demand for
SCHEDULED CASTE RIGHTS TO
DALIT CHRISTIANS AND DALIT MUSLIMS
Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) order 1950 deprives Muslims and Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin, the Scheduled Caste status.
It reads as “ no person who professes a religion different from the Hindu, the Sikh or the Buddhist religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste .”
Indian National Congress Party's Manifesto 1996 had promised that the Indian National Congress would extend the reservations for certain excluded categories in deserving cases, such as Dalit Christians and for women in Vidhan Sabhas and the Lok Sabha.
The Report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) which was tabled in the Parliament on 18 th December 2009 , states loudly.
“…we recommend that Para 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 –which originally restricted the Scheduled Caste net to the Hindus and later opened it to Sikhs and Buddhists, thus still excluding from its purview the Muslims, Christians, Jains and Parsis, etc.- should be wholly deleted by appropriate action so as to completely de-link the Scheduled Caste status from religion and make the Scheduled Castes net fully religion-neutral like that of the Scheduled Tribes.” (16.3.5)
The study on ‘ Dalits in the Muslim and Christian Communities ': A Status Report on Current Social Scientific Knowledge, prepared for the National Commission for Minorities, Government of India, by Prof. Satish Deshpande University of Delhi , 2008 observes, “there is no compelling evidence to justify denying SC (Scheduled Caste) status to Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians.” (p. 81)
On 22 nd April 2010, National Commission for Scheduled Castes had fully acknowledged and endorsed the recommendation of the NCRLM concerning the deletion of Paragraph 3 of the Constitution ( Scheduled Castes ) Order 1950 for extending the Scheduled Castes status to Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Castes Origin.
Our main right, just and honest demand to the Union of India:
- To take an urgent action on the NCRLM report, particularly to the Additional Term of Reference for granting the Scheduled Castes status to Christians and Muslims of Scheduled Castes Origin.
2. To give an appropriate answer to the query of the Supreme Court to the Writ Petitions demanding
deletion of the unjust paragraph 3 of the Constitution Scheduled Castes Order 1950 and to extend
Scheduled Caste status to Muslims and Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin.
For Further details, contact the following Mobile numbers
09848408236 |
09895555832 |
09818805668 |
09444181037 |