Plea on Scheduled Caste Status to be Religion Neutral | 09 Jan 2020
Why in News
The Supreme Court will examine a plea related to Dalit Christians who demand the same quota benefits reserved for Scheduled Castes.
- The plea also requests that reservation for government jobs and admissions in educational institutions should be made "religion-neutral".
- Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 restricts Christians of Scheduled Castes origin from availing the Scheduled Castes status.
- Paragraph 3 of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 states that no person who professes a religion different from Hindu (the Sikh or the Buddhist) religion shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste.
Arguments in favour of the reservation to be religion-neutral
- The change in religion does not change social exclusion.
- The social hierarchy and specifically caste hierarchy continues to remain within Christianity and Muslims even though the religion forbids it.
- Considering the above scenario, the reservation needs to be delinked from religion.