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Anil Sarkar Demands to Identify Caste Hindu Creamy Layer, too
Plash Biswas
(contact: Palash Biswas, c/o Mrs arati roy, gosto kanan, Sodepur, kolkata-700110, India. Phone:033-25659551-r)
The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the amendment providing reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for promotion in government jobs. But it said that the creamy layer has to be excluded from its benefits. A five-judge constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal said, the overall limit of 50 per cent reservation cannot be exceeded under any circumstances. The court said that while providing reservation for promotion in government jobs, the state has to justify that the SCs and STs are not adequately represented and that administrative efficiencies are not impelled.The leftists led by cpim has opined that the apex court decision is unfortunate. Cpim dalit leader, poet and socil welfare minister of Tripura Anil Sarkar was present in the core group meeting held in New delhi on 20 th October.On way returning to Agartala, on a stopover in Kolkata Mr sarkar told that he has demanded to deduct the opportunities of promotion of caste Hindu creamy layer , too. Giving the details of the meeting he calaimed that the central HRD minister Arjun singh also supported his demand.
Sarkar also demanded a constitutional amendment to overcome the fifty percent bar fixed by the apex court so that not only OBC, but dalit christians and dalit muslims may be accomodated.
Representing the chief minister of Tripura, Manik sarkar, the minister alleged despite the given fifty percent quota dalits have only ten percent of jobs available as ninety percent job is captured by caste Hindus. According to him, policy making posts are never meant for Sc, St or Obc.
A meeting of Chief Ministers and Education Ministers of states and the core group of ministers looking after implementation of 27 percent reservation for OBC students in unaided institutions, held in New Delhi ton 20 th Oct. This meeting held in a bid to evolve a consensus on the issue of OBC quota in unaided institutions. It came in the wake of the Supreme Court's unhappiness over government's lack of data on the subject. A Core Group of Ministers headed by Defence Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee interacted with the state leaders on the issue after the introduction of the bill in Parliament concerning aided institutions. The exercise comes at a time when the apex court has taken a serious note of the proposal for the extension of reservation without any specific data in place. The court has observed that the Centre had preferred not to mention the important issue of "creamy layer" in its affidavit which, according to the Indra Sawhney judgement in the Mandal case, was to be kept away from the scope of reservation. The two-day meeting aimed at evolving a political consensus on quota in unaided educational institutions. Finance minister P chaidambaram was also present in the meeting.
The Supreme Court laid down general guidelines for holding timely elections to panchayats and municipalities. A five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal said, the Election Commision should try to complete the elections before the expiry of the five-year term and only in exceptional circumstances like calamities or breakdown of law and order, the delay will be justified. The court said, under no circumstances, elections to panchayats and municipalities should be extended as a regular feature. It said, any revision of the electoral rolls should be carried out in time and if it cannot not be done in reasonable time, elections have to be conducted on the then existing rolls. Expressing confidence that the Election Commission will take steps to prepare the electoral rolls on time, the Bench said that under no circumstance, it shall be delayed in violation of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has modified its order on the OBC reservation bill and said that the report of the parliamentary standing committee on the bill will be placed before it after being tabled in the House. The court’s directive on Monday had triggered a controversy with political parties coming out strongly against it. Most had pointed out that the parliamentary committees were accountable to only the Parliament.
Taking note of additional solicitor-general Gopal Subramanian’s point that the bill was under examination of the committee, the court, in its order signed on Tuesday has observed that “in all probability, it is submitted that the report, if received from the Parliament (committee), will be placed before the Parliament in the Winter Session which is likely to commence from November 27. Assurance is given by him (ASG) that a copy of the standing committee’s report shall be placed in a sealed cover before this court.”
In fact, the Supreme Court’s directive seeking a parliamentary report on the OBC reservation bill came up at the meeting of the HRD ministry’s standing committee on Wednesday. The issue is believed to have been mentioned at the meeting but not discussed in detail. What is, however, believed to have been discussed is the implementation process of the OBC reservation.
“Creamy Layer” introduced in OBC Quota
Children of the President, the Vice-President, Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts will come under “Creamy Layer”- a special criteria fixed to exclude them from the benefit of OBC quota in government services and institutes.
Under this criteria persons having a gross annual income of Rs 2.5 lakh or above for three consecutive years will fall in the same category and their children would not get the reservation that are provided to OBC classes. Detailing the criteria, an official note said that children of officers holding equivalent or comparable posts in public sector units, banks, insurance companies, universities fall under this category.
The note has also clarified that children of doctors, lawyers, engineers, chartered accountants, management consultants, dental surgeon, architects, computer professionals, film artists, sports and media professionals or any other related persons will be excluded from the benefit. The criterion is introduced due to a recent “issue” on the 27% reservation for Other Backward Caste (OBC) in IIMs and IITs.
Arjun pitches for more funds to SC, ST, OBC students
On the eve of crucial meeting of Chief Ministers and Education Ministers of states here in a bid to evolve a consensus on the issue of OBC quota in unaided institutions, Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh on made a strong plea for Central assistance to children from SC, ST, OBCs and minorities and other weaker sections in the Eleventh Plan.
"The 11th Plan must come out boldly in favour of giving Central assistance for pre-matric as well as post-matric scholarships to children of SC, ST as well as OBCs/minorities (subject to a means test) and other weaker sections and at adequate rates," he said in a note at the full Planning Commission meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Singh reminded the Plan panel that the commitments made by Congress party through its manifesto especially the National Common Minimum Programme need to be "articulated with greater stress" in the Approach Paper to the Plan. These included the need for removing agrarian distress, promoting employment-oriented growth and achieving food and nutrition security.
Report on quota bill in Parliament: Standing Committee : In the midst of a judiciary-versus-legislature debate, a Parliamentary committee on Wednesday asserted that its report on the OBC reservation in Central educational institutions would be tabled in Parliament.
"The Committee will submit its report to Parliament", senior Congress MP Janardan Dwivedi, Chairman of Parliamentary Standing Committee of the HRD Ministry, told PTI after a meeting in which the issue of the Supreme Court order seeking a report on the quota Bill came up. (Agencies)
BANGALORE: In a major setback to oversight committee's move to implement 27% OBC quota at the premier Indian Institutes of Management from 2007-'08, directors of six IIMs have thrown up their hands saying it would be practically impossible to implement the quota in one go.
The directors of all IIMs who met twice -- in Chennai and Bangalore -- on the quota issue have told the core group on management institutions chairman Samuel Paul that their plates are full and it would be unrealistic to launch reservation for OBCs on full scale from next June.
"To implement 27% reservations, IIMs will have to increase the intake by 54%. Given the shortage of faculty and inadequate infrastructure, none of the IIMs can handle this extent of expansion in just one year.We must stagger the implementation if quality is not to be compromised.
The preferred option would be to implement it in a modest way," Paul, former IIM-A director,who heads the core group on management schools, told The Times of India. If IIM-A has no land to even build a shed, IIM-Kozhikode has a peculiar problem. The IIM-K director has told the core group that as the institute is located in a hilly region, finding a contractor is difficult. The situation is grim even on the faculty front.
While the premier B-schools are struggling to fill even the sanctioned posts due to lack of qualified faculty, each IIM will have to recruit 23 additional faculty if the quota will have to be implemented.
"This scale of recruitment has never happened in any of the IIMs. Each institute recruits only about 5-6 faculty every year, but finding 23 professors will not only result in intense competition among the IIMs but may also lead to poaching," Paul said.
All IIM directors want the Centre to relax various norms to overcome limitations in implementing the quota plan. IIMs have suggested that their respective Board of Governors should be authorised to take final decisions on matters relating to recruitment, faculty compensation and capacity building to beat delay in getting government clearances.
"To attract good faculty you need to offer attractive salary. IIMs have not been able to offer good compensation since they are bound by the Pay Commission. The directors have suggested that the retirement age should be relaxed from 62 to 65 years.
Even during recruitment, the existing rules insist that the faculty has to be a Ph.D.
"In the areas of accounting, finance and marketing it is difficult to find a faculty with a Ph.D. In these areas a good chartered accountant may be appointed," Paul said.
Though a final meeting of IIM directors to finalise their recommendations is scheduled for next week, Paul feels the entire exercise would be futile if the Brand IIM suffers due to quota.
"There is immense pressure on IIMs to implement quota because the intake is limited and pay packets are the best in the country. The government has to ensure that the brand is not destroyed while implementing reservations. If there is no brand, nobody gains -- including the OBC.
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