St. Stephen's shows the way.
I am carrying the full text of an excellent article that I am in absolute agreement with. Other so-called 'Christian' colleges should emulate this as well. St. Stephen's college, Delhi is one of India's best known colleges.
A Christian move
Prakash Louis
Christian tradition holds that St Stephen was a man full of faith and threw himself into his apostolic work with the greatest zeal. God blessed him by enabling him to perform great wonders and signs. This was in the first century CE.
It appears that St Stephen's College by reserving 10 per cent of seats for Dalit Christians has gone back to its tradition. In spite of strong opposition from faculty members, the decision of the college to reserve seats for Dalit Christians and to scale down the cut-off point to 60 per cent is a move in the right direction and at the right time.
This move by St Stephen's is a bold step.
According to the officiating principal of St Stephen's, Valson Thampu, out of a total of 400 seats, 10 per cent would be reserved for Dalit Christians.
But he went a step further and said that all avenues will be explored to ensure that those who are admitted cope with the demands of a rigorous education.
Further, he asserted that the college would carry out a merit audit, taking the wind out of those who always hide behind merit whenever reservations come up.
This move by St Stephen's will now compel the government to make public the report of Justice Ranganath Mishra National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities and to implement its recommendations.
The commission has clearly stated that Dalit Christians, irrespective of their converting to Christianity, continue to suffer from the tyranny of the caste system.
It is common knowledge that Dalit Christians are subject to cumulative and multiple discrimination within the caste system since they are untouchables. They are discriminated against by upper caste Christians since they are Dalits; they are subject to exclusion by upper caste Hindus since they continue to be treated as untouchables; and they are denied the provisions of reservation since they have embraced Christianity.
The long-standing demand of Dalit Christians to be brought under the constitutional purview of reservation was denied on the pretext of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950. Taking this into account, the Mishra Commission has recommended that Para 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950, which originally restricted the Scheduled Caste net to Hindus and later opened it to Sikhs and Buddhists, should also include Christians.
This timely action by St Stephen's is in a sense implementation of the constitutional mandate, which directs the state not to discriminate against any citizen on the basis of caste, class and creed. At the same time it demands that the well-being and rights of weaker sections be promoted and protected. Moreover, St Stephen's has reiterated the fact that this decision is in line with its minority status, and that within minorities Dalits deserve to be included.
Expectedly there is opposition from some faculty members and upper caste lobbies in the name of merit being sacrificed for affirmative action.
For ages, these advocates of merit have been direct beneficiaries of invisible but uninterrupted reservation in minority educational institutions like St Stephen's.
For generations these people have benefited out of the educational services of St Stephen's.
But the moment the college has made up its mind to include Dalit Christians in its educational mission, they are up in arms.
It appears that the determination of the management to implement the constitutional directives will triumph over their opponents.
The decision to provide reservation to Dalit Christians seems to be in line with the directions given by B R Ambedkar to judge the social services of Indian Christianity: "It is necessary to bear in mind that Indian Christians are drawn chiefly from the untouchables and to a less extent from low-ranking Shudra castes. The social services of missions must, therefore, be judged in the light of the needs of these classes".
Many conscientious citizens of the country have welcomed this historical decision of St Stephen's. This step has once again proved that education is a tool for inclusion and justice and not an exclusive domain of the elite.
The writer is director, Bihar Social Institute, Patna.
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