​Faiths and fences: On reservation benefits, religious groups

The Supreme Court of India has reiterated a long-held, yet contested, rule of India’s anti-discrimination jurisprudence — that protections and peculiar provisions for Scheduled Caste (SC) communities volition beryllium available lone to those who practise Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism. The March 24 Court judgement arose from a Christian pastor who sought protections nether the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, successful Andhra Pradesh. The Court upheld a High Court determination that immoderate subordinate of the SC assemblage who has converted retired of the 3 religions specified successful the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, issued nether Article 341, ceases to beryllium an SC member. The archetypal explanation of SC included lone Hindus, but was extended to Sikhs (1956) and Buddhists (1990). India’s founding leaders, including archetypal Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, were wide that the utmost signifier of favoritism manifested successful untouchability was unsocial to Hindu society. But governmental and societal realities forced amendments later. SC communities began utilizing spiritual conversion itself arsenic an enactment of assertion and autonomy. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar himself led a wide conversion of SC members to Buddhism. Notably, helium converted to Buddhism successful 1956, the twelvemonth erstwhile each SC communities practising the Sikh religion were brought nether peculiar provisions, including reservation.

There are theological and ineligible arguments for this favoritism reiterated by the Court. It is often argued that successful Christianity and Islam, determination is nary theological defence of favoritism based connected societal stratification. That Sikhism and Buddhism are portion of the civilisational beingness of Hinduism is an statement which has gained governmental and law legitimacy. Under Explanation II to Article 25(2) of the Constitution, the explanation of Hindu includes the Sikh, Buddhist and Jain faiths. Neither the theological nor the law arguments for the exclusion of converts to Islam and Christianity from peculiar protections are logically oregon empirically watertight, and hence the question continues to fester. Christian oregon Muslim converts proceed to look discrimination, including untouchability, adjacent wrong their caller spiritual world. After all, favoritism needs nary theological sanction. But the question of their inclusion remains a politically surcharged topic, with a committee headed by erstwhile Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan examining this. Many Dalit activists reason the inclusion of converts wrong the existing quantum of reservation. Many members of SC communities who person converted to Christianity oregon Islam person benefits nether provisions meant for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes nether Article 15(4) of the Constitution. The Court’s determination is due nether the existing ineligible and law scheme, and immoderate alteration tin lone travel done a governmental process and the legislative route.