Panel wants education quota for Muslims, others

New Delhi: The Justice Ranganathan Mishra Commission has recommended that 15 percent of seats in all non-minority educational institutions be reserved for religious and linguistic minorities in the country

CNN-IBN has accessed the committee’s report and learns that it defines religious and linguistic minorities as backward classes and wants them brought under the umbrella of other backward classes (OBCs).

The committee recommends 10 percent reservation for Muslims and 5 percent for other minorities. In case there are not enough Muslim candidates to fill the 10 percent seats, the vacant seats should be offered to other minorities.

The commission has said that in no case the reserved seats should go to majority community. Concessions in eligibility criteria given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes should be given to minorities.

It has also recommended 10 percent reservation for Muslims and 5 percent for other minorities in all government welfare schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Scheme), the PM Rozgar Yojana and the Grameen Rozgar Yojana.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said that the commission’s report would be tabled in Parliament during the ongoing session. “I have taken note of it. I assure that the report will be tabled before the session gets over,” he said in the Lok Sabha.

The National Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities led by Justice Ranganathan Mishra, former chief justice of India, submitted its report to the prime minister on May 22, 2007

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