Quota package likely for minorities too

Advani accuses Congress of minority appeasement

The package for reservations in institutions of higher learning is likely to take into account minorities too, according to sources in the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

This will be in keeping with the commitment in the National Common Minimum Programme, which promises to "provide for full equality of opportunity in education and employment for SCs, STs, OBCs and religious minorities.''

Sources said the OBC list already included several Muslim groups though it was not a comprehensive representation.

According to experts, many Dalits who converted from Hinduism, especially to Christianity, have been left out of the OBC list prepared by the National Commission for Backward Castes (NCBC). Nor are they included in the SC list.

While Dalits converts to Sikhs were put in the SC list as early as 1956, Dalit converts to Buddhism were included when VP Singh was the prime minister.

Some Muslim communities were included in the OBC list prepared by the backward classes panel, which did not include Christian groups despite the fact that the OBC lists of most eastern and southern states, except Maharashtra and Gujarat, include Christian Dalits who converted from Hinduism.

A draft Bill to introduce reservation for OBCs in professional colleges is ready and has been held over by the Cabinet Secretariat pending elections, according to sources in the government.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, LK Advani, today said the sub-committee under the chairmanship of Sardar Vallabhai Patel and comprising Pandit Nehru and Dr BR Ambedkar set up immediately after Partition had opposed reservations on religious lines but the UPA government was not stopping at anything and was continuing with its policy of minority appeasement.