B.Shyam Sunder-Problems of Indian Minorities.docx (2)

7/31/2019 B.Shyam Sunder-Problems of Indian Minorities.docx (2)

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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.ShreyeskerPresident

Mool Bharati B.Shyam Sunder Memorial SocietyB.Shyam Sunder Marg . Gulbarga 585105 (Karnataka State )

e-mail [email protected]


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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 andfrustration 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 theirday-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 feelingdemoralised, 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 changingfrom 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 regionallanguage 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 inany 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.


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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 discouragedif 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 ofthe 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.


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Discrimination an offence

Discrimination against citizen by Government officers in public administrat-

ion 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 everypolitical 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 bywhich 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 orwhere 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 themajority 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 haveno 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 remaina loyal and conscientious

son of Bharat,

B. SHYAM SUNDER

B.A., LL.B., M.L.A.,


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B.Shyam Sunder-Problems of Indian Minorities.docx (2)

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