National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities

National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, also called Ranganath Misra Commission, was constituted by Government of India on 29 October 2004 to look into various issues related to Linguistic and Religious minorities in India. It was chaired by former Chief Justice of India Justice Ranganath Misra.^[1] The commission submitted the report to the Government on 21 May 2007.^[2]

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Terms of reference

Initially, the commission was entrusted with the following terms of reference:^[1]

To suggest criteria for identification of socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities;
To recommend measures for welfare of socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities, including reservation in education and government employment; and
To suggest the constitutional, legal and administrative modalities required for the implementation of its recommendations.

After nearly five months of its work the Commission’s Terms of Reference were modified so as to add the following:^[1]

To give its recommendations on the issues raised in WPs 180/04 and 94/05 filed in the Supreme Court of India, and in certain High Courts, relating to Para 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 in the context of the ceiling of 50 percent on reservations, as also the modalities for inclusion in the list of Scheduled Castes.

Main recommendations

Give 10% quotas for Muslims and 5% for other minorities in government jobs and in seats in all the higher educational institutions (graduation and above)^[3]
Reserve 8.4% quota out of the existing OBC quota of 27% for religious minorities, mainly Muslims
Permit Dalits who convert to Islam or Christianity to avail of reservation benefits under the Scheduled Caste reservation quota.^[4]

Leaked

TwoCircles.net, an online Indian news organization has started publishing excerpts from this report since June 2009.^[5]

Opposition

Since the submission India's national party, BJP has been opposing the Ranganath Misra's recommendation fiercely. In 2010, BJP's senior official and CM of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan stated "prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had opposed reservation for converted SCs and STs".^[6] In 2011, The BJP decided to file a PIL against a report recommending Scheduled Caste quotas for all minorities that could lead to Dalit Christians and Muslims coming within its ambit.^[7] On 9 February 2014, Narendra Modi during his prime-ministerial campaign in Kerala he critisied Mishra's report for creating "insecurities of the Dalit communities".^[8]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (Ranganath Misra Commission Report)
^ Plea to table Ranganath Mishra Commission report
^ "BJP to question quota". www.telegraphindia.com. Archived from the original on 23 February 2014.
^ Para 3 of the Constitutional (Scheduled Caste)
^ Misra Commission report excerpts
^ BJP slams against Ranganath Mishra commission report
^ BJP to question quota
^ "Modi pitches BJP as 'third alternative' in Kerala". The Hindu. 9 February 2014. Retrieved 14 September 2019.

Bibliography

Vishwanath, Rupa (2015), "Commissioning Representation: The Misra Report, Deliberation and the Government of the People in Modern India", South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 38 (3): 495–511, doi:10.1080/00856401.2015.1049773
Kumar, Arvind (July 2023), "Exclusion of Pasmanda Muslims and Dalit Christians from the Scheduled Caste Quota", South Asia Research, 43 (2): 192–209, doi:10.1177/02627280231161000