Prime Minister agrees to table Misra report in ongoing session

In a positive decision that might further the cause of Dalit Christians, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has agreed to table the Ranganath Misra Commission report in the parliament.

"We will place the report on the table of the House in this session," Singh on Wednesday told the Lok Sabha. "I take note of the sentiments of the members who have raised the demand."

The prime minister agreed to table the report after questions was raised by Samajwadi Party members led by its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Prior to this, on Tuesday, the Rajya Sabha also heard some protests from MPs of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and Communist Party of India (CPI) who criticised the dilly-dally tactics of the government not including marginalized Christians and Muslims in the SC category.

The NCRLM report, popularly known as the Ranganath Misra Commission report, was submitted to the Prime Minister on 21 May 2007.

The NCRLM was set up in 2005 to study the backwardness of Dalit Christians and Muslims. In its report it had clearly stated that non-inclusion of SC Christians and SC Muslims was a discrimination based on religion and goes against the articles 14, 15 and 25 of the Constitution of India.

It had recommended the deletion of the discriminatory Para 3 of the Constitutional Order 1950 which permits only Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists to enjoy socio-economic and educational benefits from the government.

Though Christians form a minority in India, the majority among them belongs to the Scheduled Castes (Dalit) and Tribal Communities and a rough estimate of different Scheduled Caste would form about 70 percent of the total Christian population.

Several Christian activists argue that conversion to Christianity has not changed the social and economic conditions of the Dalits.

Last month, a rally was held and memorandums submitted pressing for the inclusion of non- Hindu SCs within the existing reservation of 15 per cent and 27 per cent reservation respectively.