Indian Church urges government to adopt Dalit-rights report

(December 22, 2009) India’s Christians and Muslims belonging to the Dalit classes are to be given the same rights as their Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh counterparts under an official recommendation that comes after a 60-year struggle by the Church to win the concessions. “We want the government to pass the bill without delay,” said Fr Cosmon Arokiaraj, secretary of the Commission for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India, CBCI. The Indian Constitution allows for special benefits for Dalits, members of lower castes once branded “untouchables.” Christians and Muslims from Dalit groups, however, are excluded on the grounds that their religions reject the caste system. The government has now tabled a report saying that religion should be de-linked from the benefits provisions. These include quotas for Dalit people in educational institutions and government jobs. Fr Arokiaraj hailed the government move as a milestone in the Church’s six-decade-long struggle for equal rights. The report is prepared by the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by former chief justice Ranganath Mishra. It recommends reserving 10 percent of educational positions and government jobs for Dalit Muslims and 5 percent for other Dalit groups, including Christians.