Vishwa Samvad Kendra, the media wing of the RSS, and the Gautam Buddha University (Noida) will hold a two-day conclave (March 4-5) to discuss the question of extending reservations to those from the Scheduled Castes who have converted to Islam or Christianity.
Pravesh Chowdhary, assistant professor at the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory at Jawaharlal Nehru University and the coordinator of the event, said the aim of the conclave was to find out the prevailing opinion on whether reservation should be extended to those who had converted to Islam or Christianity.
The Central Government has constituted a commission under the chairmanship of former judge K.G. Balakrishnan on granting SC status to those who have historically belonged to the Scheduled Castes but have converted to religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.
“We at Vishwa Samvad Kendra, as a social organisation, are planning fruitful discussions on this burning issue. The topic of our conclave is Conversion and reservation: With special reference to the K.G. Balakrishnan Commission,” the coordinator said. The event will be attended by Sanjay Paswan, member of the Bihar Legislative Council and Narendra Jadhav, former Rajya Sabha MP and former member of the Planning Commission.
On day one of the event, the theme of discussion will be history, evolution and development of the Scheduled Caste and reservation. The session will be headed by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Member Secretary, Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) and Kishor Makwana, Director, Ambedkar Open University, Gujarat.
A discussion on the Constitution and reservation will see the participation of Prakash Bartunia, Chancellor, B.R Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow and Bhimrao Panda Bhosale, head of the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad.
A discussion on Abrahamic religions: caste and reservation will be initiated by senior advocate Alok Kumar, who is also the international working president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
The session on constitutional provisions for reservation will be chaired by K.P. Singh, Director of Gandhi Bhawan, University of Delhi. A discussion on law, the Constitution and reservation in the context of the Ranganath Misra Commission and the Sachar Committee will be chaired by Justice (retd.) Lok Pal Singh.
On day two of the event, a session on the consequences of conversion will be chaired by Manroop Singh Meena, Pro Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU, New Delhi. The discussion will be initiated by Arun Haldar, Vice Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
Kuldip Chand Agnihotri, former Vice Chancellor, Central University of Himachal Pradesh, will chair a discussion on the effects of conversion on the social status of the Scheduled Castes.
The concluding session will be chaired by Milind Kamble, Chairman, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Justice (retd.) B. Siva Sankar Rao and Kaushal Panwar of IGNOU will initiate the discussion.
