Need to Democratise ‘Muslim’ Institutions<http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=157>
*A guest post by Khalid A. Ansari on behalf of Pasmanda Intellectuals’ Forum* The last two decades in Indian democracy have witnessed wider acknowledgment and interrogation of the disproportionate hegemony of upper castes in the structures of power. Quite clearly such overt domination of a few elite oligarchic caste groups in decision making processes runs against the pluralist and democratic ambitions of the Indian Constitution. The persistence of such trends does not augur well for the future of this nation. [image: Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh] Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh The legitimacy of the category of caste in non-Hindu (minority) communities is now officially established. The inclusion of 82 Muslim caste groups in the OBC list of the Mandal Commission Report in 1990 was a watershed event in this context. The presence of caste in Muslim community is also reaffirmed by the recent Sachhar Committee Report and the report of the Ranganath Mishra Commission on Linguistic Minorities. Moreover, apart from the official recognition there is a strong movement among the dalit/backward caste Muslims that is gaining ground in North India (especially UP and Bihar). The movement is called the ‘Pasmanda Movement’ and it is articulating the anxiety and anger of the Pasmanda Muslim sections over their blatant social exclusion. It must be borne in mind that the Pasmanda Muslims (dalit/backward caste Muslims; also called ajlaf and arzal) constitute about 75% of the Indian Muslim population (the remaining 25% is formed by the upper caste ashraf Muslims). The politics of numeric should itself suffice to suggest that their claims can not be taken lightly. The marginalisation of Pasmanda Muslims from state and community-controlled institutions is an issue that perhaps needs to be urgently addressed. Read more… » <http://blog.insightyv.com/?p=157#more-157> at http://www.blog.insightyv.com/ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
