Comments on: More on Sachar, OBCs, reservations etc…

By: B Shantanu

B Shantanu — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 09:18:42 +0000

More on Sachar…
From Sachar member flays UPA for report’s ‘misuse’ for pol gains by Abantika Ghosh, TNN Jul 3, 2011, 01.53am IST (emphasis added):
..In his article, published on the website of the Centre for Advanced Study of India (CASI) University of Pennsylvania, Rakesh Basant, professor of economics at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and a former member of the Sachar Committee, argues that main recommendations in the report, which were not community-specific..has been re-cast to make it sound Muslim-centric. He cites this as an apt example of the government’s outlook on the matter
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“The UPA has not only picked up recommendations in isolation but has also highlighted the community-specific programs and its implementation in its election manifesto and other communications…Apparently the mainstreaming measures recommended by the Sachar Committee had much less political utility than promises of community specific benefits and programs. …It is important to recognize that mainstreaming would require a significant change in the nature of politics,” Basant writes.

By: B Shantanu

B Shantanu — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 07:14:07 +0000

From a tweet by CenterofRight: Muslims may be under-represented in government jobs, but they are over-represented in several other booming areas: Bollywood, employment in the Gulf, the media and entertainment sectors, BPO, automobile servicing and repairs, and several traditional industries like glass-making, leather, powerlooms, carpet-making and zari work – to name just a few examples

By: B Shantanu

B Shantanu — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 13:54:30 +0000

From Sachar report may lead to Muslims’ ghettoization, says Salman Khursheed:
New Delhi: In an important development, marking a radical shift in the UPA government’s approach, from pre-Sachar to post-Sachar period, the Union Minister of Minorities Affairs Salman Khursheed has questioned, both the credibility of the Sachar report and blind acceptance of its recommendations.
…Cautioning the community from uncritical following of the Sachar report, Khursheed said that it might benefit the community in the short term but it could also lead to its further ghettoization which will be disastrous for the community in the long term as it will prevent the community’s mainstreaming.

By: Moderator

Moderator — Sat, 29 May 2010 15:26:42 +0000

*** Comment from badal mahato ***

why muslim get obc categary status. in india 80% muslim under OBC categary. when there is no caste system in muslims then why they get obc reservation.

By: B Shantanu

B Shantanu — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:18:36 +0000

Brief excerpt from The Two-Regiment Theory by Balbir Punj (Mar 13, 2006):

The communal composition of the Royal Indian Army (Raj days) was heavily tilted towards Muslims. B.R. Ambedkar, in his book Pakistan or The Partition of India (1940), observes, “Whatever be the explanation, two glaring facts stand out…. One is that the Indian army today is predominantly Muslim in its composition. The other is that the Musalmans who predominate are the Musalmans from the Punjab and the NWFP.” (B.R. Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches, Vol-8, Pg 95). However, the high recruitment of Hindu youths during World War II, after Veer Savarkar’s whirlwind propaganda, saw the Muslim proportion whittled down to 25 per cent of the whole by 1945.

The Muslims in the British Indian Army mostly migrated to Pakistan after Partition. The recruiting fields of Muslim soldiers viz. the NWFP and Punjab (West) are now in Pakistan. The Muslims who remained in India, say in UP, Bihar, West Bengal or Kerala, have a history of reluctance to serve in the army. This is despite any bias against Muslims or any other community in the forces. It is only a matter of their willingness to join and qualifying in the physical tests. That said, one-tenth of soldiers who laid down their lives in Operation Vijay in Kargil were Muslims.

Although British-era names like the Sikh Regiment and Gorkha Regiment persist, the government stopped raising ethnically named regiments back in the 1950s. The result: almost all regiments are of mixed ethnicity and religion today. The Indian army has its priests, granthis and maulvis to administer the religious schedule. There is no ‘religious indoctrination’ unlike in Pakistan and other Islamic states. All places of worship, be it temple, gurudwara, chaplain or mosque, are known by their generic name ‘dharamsthan’ (religious site). Recruits are groomed in such a rigorous manner that nationalism becomes their only religion. Every soldier participates in all religious functions.
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Patriotism and nationalism are better kept outside the periphery of religion-based quotas. Suffice to say, we are proud of our Abdul Hamids, Albert Ekkas and J.F.R. Jacobs as much our Somnath Sharmas, Subroto Mukherjees and Padmanabhans.