Problems of Indian Minorities

It is really the duty and responsibility of the minorities to tell the majority or their Governments where exactly the shoe pinches them and how bitter is the pain. It is for the majority party to support them and secure adequate safeguards for them.

B.Shyam Sunder

Published by H.Shreyesker President Mool Bharati B.Shyam Sunder Memorial Society B.Shyam Sunder Marg . Gulbarga 585105 (Karnataka State ) e-mail shreyesker@gmail.com

PROBLEMS OF INDIAN MINORITIES

B.SHYAM SUNDER

To, Smt. Indira Gandhi, President, National Integration Committee, Prime Minister House, New Delhi. -----------Dear Madam, Permit me to place before you a few aspects of the plight of Indian Minorities. The item that deserves priority on your agenda is the psychological problem. Has the attitude and behaviour of the majority towards the minorities during the last thirteen years been such as so to engender in their minds the feeling that they are not looked down upon, discriminated against or treated as second class citizens? The more deeply and intimately you probe this question the sooner you will realise that the answer is in the negative. Here are some observation, which your committee might check up in the course of its tours and interviews. These are very necessary because there is hardly any worthwhile published material, which can give you a real insight into their feelings and grievances. They are too over-awed and terror-stricken to organise meetings or otherwise make known their miseries. Their so-called representatives in Legislative or administrative bodies owe their position to the benevolence of the ruling clique. Your committee, there fore, issues a comprehensive questionnaire and simultaneously announces that no member of the minority community would be victimized for speaking the truth. Scheduled Castes I first deal with the Scheduled Castes, the group to which I belong. There is a strong feeling among our intelligent and thinking sections that we have been included among the Hindus merely to consolidate their domination in the land. Funds are spent in the name oh Harijans uplift to keep our masses quiet and submissive. If some of us are given prominent position or if flattering circulars are published, it is only to show to the world that caste Hindus are liberal-minded and you will see that the Scheduled Castes are still
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segregated in the district portion of the village, where they live in the midst of poverty and diseases. If they are elected to the Samithis, they are expected to sweep the premises of the Samithis Office none of the higher classes is prepared to do. The newly honoured untouchables dare not say No to the Samithi high command, otherwise, he is thrown out and persecuted. His place is given to someone who will say Yes to everything. The Scheduled Caste people are perpetually haunted by a sense of inferiority and frustration generated by the age-long overbearing attitude of the majority community. Because of joint electorates, stooges of the ruling community invariably fill their reserved seats. Although every advertisement issued by Public Services Commission and other Government Institutions mention that preference will be given to qualified candidates from the Scheduled Castes, in practice rarely does he secure the job, even though qualified. The statutory reservation of percentage in services is put in operation mostly in the appointment of Chaprasis, Sweepers and menial servants. The Census report and other statistical publications do not give a complete picture of their social, economical and educational conditions. There are still lakhs of villages in Bharat where they have to walk several miles to get a pot of water. The report published by the Commissioner Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are replete with heart-rending details of their day-to-day sufferings. Brahamins This comparatively more educated community is being driven out from all positions of power and influence in the states, There sons and daughters are denied admissions to technical and professional colleges on some pretext or the other. Policy-making institutions, administrative or educational, are being deprived in their keen intellect a deep insight. Even their legal acumen is not made use of. They are deliberately ignored in every walk of life, including teaching profession, where they excel. Muslims As apprehended, the first casualty of Indias independence was the Muslim minority. There was no security of life and property for them during the early years of independence, both in the north and in the south. The position has improved since, although sporadic outburst of violence and terrorism by the majority to take place now and then at different places: but what has not disappeared from the minds of the Muslims is fear and anxiety about their present and future. They are subjected to a kind subtle and insidious psychological coercion against which there can be no legal or constitutional remedy and, as a result of which they are feeling demoralised, frustrated and of no consequences. Their talents are not being utilized for the good of the country in any shape or form. They are not employed in security and defence services, Socially, they are tolerated as an inferior class or citizens and are discriminated against in the matters of : a) Admission in professional colleges on the basis of rules which keep on changing from year to year, every change being designed to Keep out minorities.
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b) Permits, licenses and contracts; c) Employment Opportunities: d) Employment bodies; and higher services. While there is no ban on the learning and teaching of Urdu, young students are so burdened with their curricula which include the national language and the regional language that they have no time and energy left to learn, outside school hours, their cultural language, which is now at a discount every where, even though it is the de- facto common language of the country. The Muslims form 10% of the population of India, yet they have not been given even 4% representation in the councils and services of the nation. In villages and towns where Muslims ahead considerable number of voters, they have been split up into two or three constituencies to avoid there getting an effective voice in the election. Their candidates in the legislatures, elected as a mark of favors by the Majority Community, are invariably those who are either too considerate or too docile to ventilate their communitys grievances. Their population throughout India is so scattered that they do not count in any state. Moreover, they are sternly discouraged and maligned if they try to organise themselves on any regional or All India basis even though the constitutional allows it. Christians Take the case of the Christians. They feel that they are wooed only once in five years just before the elections to be exploited as voters and are ignored soon after. Their educational institutions are constantly threatened with the stoppage or reduction of their grants; their missionaries, who are doing humanitarian works, are looked upon as spies and agents of foreign Governments, visas are refused to foreign teachers and social workers coming out to staff institutions run by them in India for the benefit of all. Sikhs The Sikhs complain that their language is given a secondary position and their Panthic activities are suspected as being anti-national and reactionary. While other states are formed on linguistic basis, the Sikhs have been given no state, which they can call their homeland. Some of they are unjustifiable accused of being in league with Pakistan, merely to discredit them in public eye. Anglo-Indians The Anglo-Indians have to beg favours from the powers that be and hang around the ruling community to get small mercies. They have a feeling that they are not looked upon as children of Bharat. The modest proposal include English among the language of India in the eighth Schedule of the Constitution was voted down by ruling party majority in Parliament, although it is the Mother tongue of a minority, medium of higher education and de facto official languages.

Parsees The Parses are welcomed as financial patrons of ruling party. The moment they stop their contributions, it is likely they may also be deprived of permits, licences and other official favours which will, in course of time reduce the percentage and financial standing of this enterprising community of businessmen and industrialists. They are discouraged if they wish to have contracts abroad. Problems for consideration The question is; what can be done to make the minorities feel that they are equal citizens in the Republic India and are not discriminated against? A few of the problems are stated below for the consideration of your committee.
Security of life and property

A. Cases of arson, rioting, loot and murder, in which two communities are involved, should be tried by Magistrate specially appointed for the purposes, because if such cases are entrusted to the normal courts, justice is bound to be delayed to the disadvantage. B. The State Government should be called upon to levy a punitive tax on the entire village or area where incident has taken place. This will act as a psychological deterrent. Where loss of property has taken place, the victims should be duly compensated in cash or kind. Others have unlawfully occupied properties belonging to one community which should form the subject of adjudication by special tribunal, who should be expected to complete their proceedings within a specified period, Religious buildings and institutions should also be included in this category. Freedom from fear and anxiety The term Security also includes absence of anxiety and fear, which means psychological freedom. Guaranteeing security of life and property whereby the minorities will feel safe to pursue the programs of their developments, progress and happiness. Freedom of culture The freedom includes the right of the minority to educate its children in its own way, provided their system of education does not breed disloyalty to the best interest of the country and its people. The minority should, therefore, be entitled by the Constitution of the country to establish, manage the control social, educational, charitable and religious institution to be financed by the state in the shape of adequate grant-in-aid.

Discrimination an offence Discrimination against citizen by Government officers in public administration or by private employers in factories and commercial concern on the ground of caste, creed or social status shall be treated as an offence, The jurisdiction to the such cases shall be vested in a tribunal to be created for the purpose. Fundamental rights The enjoyment of fundamental rights be further guaranteed by making any act or omission calculated to prevent full enjoyment as an offence punished by law. Electoral system The minorities have tasted the bitter pill of joint electorates during the last 13 years and have found that it does not protect their interest. They cannot elect persons whom they trust. Therefore, a convention should be established making it obligatory on every political party contesting the election to device a method where by the trusted member of organisation of each minority are invited to the party concerned. Your committee cannot ignore the facts that other countries have given liberal, weightage to their minorities. For instance, Egypt has given a weightage of 30% to the Coptic Christians, who constitute 3% of its population. Similarly breadth of vision is manifested in the Constitution of Lebanon, Cyprus, Nigeria and several other countries. The Nehru Committee in 1932 and the Sapru Committee in 1945 had recommended weightage and reservation for the minorities, if they gave up separate electorates. In the delimitation of constituencies, a great injustice has been done to the minorities by which the minorities by which their voting strength in a particular constituency has been deliberately reduced to a negligible percentage have deliberately reduced their voting strength in a particular constituency to a negligible percentage. This should be set right by restoring the Status Quanta and by the institution of multiple membership and the entire electoral system from the point of view of giving a fair chance to the minorities. Minority candidates are allotted to constituencies where the partys know full well that they will suffer a defeat. As against them the Jan Sangh, RSS or the Mahasabha are encouraged to put up their own candidates. To add insult injury, minority leaders are twitted their candidates were responsible for the loss of so many congress seats. To end this farce, minority candidates should be given the constituencies of their own choice or where they are expected to have a deciding voice. Other safeguards Recruitment of public services be made through Public Service Commission, in such a way as to ensure proportionate representation to the different minorities on the basis of minimum requisite qualifications.
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There should be created a Ministry of Minorities Affairs, with corresponding arrangement in the States, to protect minority rights and to promote their welfare. The Sapru Committee had recommended minority commission in the Centre and State, elected by the minority members of the concerned Legislature Privilege of minorities Professor Christian Bay of University of California, whose famous treaties entitled The Structure of Freedom is supposed to be the latest authoritative work on political science says on page 382.
Majority should not have the authority to decide whether

or not minority interests have been unjustly victimised It is really the duty and responsibility of the minorities to tell the majority or their Governments where exactly the shoe pinches them and how bitter is the pain. It is for the majority party to support them and secure adequate safeguards for them. You will realize, Madam, that it is essential in the interests of National Integration that the causes for the prevailing discontent among the minorities should be removed forthwith and they should be afford full of opportunities to serve the country to the fullest capacity. The argument that India a secular country or those fundamental rights of citizenship have been guaranteed in the Constitution will no longer lull the minorities into complacency. Every ruling party takes into consideration communities, castes and sects in the allotment of election tickets, in the setting apart of constituencies, in making appointments and in distributing favours. Religious, linguistic and cultural minorities have been recognised in the constitution and rightly so. Then why ignore those who have no nuisance value and shut ones eyes and ears to their miseries and lamentations? The Hindu minority in Kashmir is treated generously, while Non-Hindu minorities in the rest of India are neglected and ill-treated. Nobody takes the trouble to enquiry into the reasons for this inconsistent behaviour. It is do away with this discrimination and callousness that your committee has been appointed. May good sense, breadth of vision and realism permeate your deliberations and recommendations! Wishing you and your committee every success in this delicate and all-important task I remain a loyal and conscientious son of Bharat, B. SHYAM SUNDER
B.A., LL.B., M.L.A.,