Storm in India assembly as AP govt declares quota for Muslims

By: Nizam Hussain

HYDERABAD, India: The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh has announced a five percent reservation for Muslims in educational institutions and jobs including the community into the backward classes.

The reservations will come into force with immediate effect. A government order issued Monday evening by the backward classes welfare department said the five percent reservation would be “over and above the reservation presently provided to backward classes”.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has strongly opposed the Andhra Pradesh Government's decision to give five per cent reservation to Muslims and demanded the order should be withdrawn immediately.

While the Muslim community welcomed the move hoping that the order would be implemented with all sincerity, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad were quick to oppose it. They demanded the order should be withdrawn immediately.

The issue created a storm in the assembly Tuesday with the BJP stalling proceedings for 45 minutes. BJP, which has only two members in the 294-member assembly, moved a notice for an adjournment motion but speaker K.R. Suresh Reddy disallowed it. Minister for Rural Development D. Srinivas defended the move saying the government had proved that it cared for minorities. With this order, the Congress government headed by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has fulfilled a major electoral promise.

The order said the state government had accepted the recommendation made by the minorities' welfare commissioner after an in-depth study of the socio-economic and educational conditions of Muslim minorities - 8.5 percent of the state's population of 76 million, according to the 1991 census. The study focused mainly on the living conditions, occupational profile, income and literacy levels of the community.

It revealed that 65 percent of Muslims are living below the poverty line with annual incomes of Rs. 11,000 or below. The literacy rate in the community is 18 percent against 44 percent in other communities. For women it is even lower at only four percent. The study exposed that a majority of Muslims are engaged in petty businesses like running pan shops or tea stalls, selling fruits or flowers or working as laborers in engineering workshops.

The government is likely to introduce a bill in the current budget session of the assembly to provide statutory backing to the move.

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