The Global Council on Indian Christian

Concerns

Meet the Former Chief Justice of India

Justice. Sri. K. G. Balakrishnan
Chairman of the Committee Formed to Examine Scheduled
Caste Status for the Converted Dalits
Conducted by:
Dr. Santha Jetty, Ph.D & Ed.D
02/25/2023
 Welcome
• Greetings to all of you. The Global Council on Indian Christian
Concerns is delighted to invite you to meet the Chairman of the
Committee formed to examine a possible granting of SC status to the
Christian Dalits.
• Let’s get started!! The meeting is in session now. Unless you are
speaking or would like to speak, please mute your audio. We are here
to express our opinions, share ideas, and petition to the Chairman.
Civil, respectful, and courteous ways of expression are encouraged
and appreciated.
• The Agenda of the session is as follows.
 Meeting Agenda
• Welcome
• Introduction to the Chairman: Dr. Jetty
• Chairman’s words: Justice K. G. Balakrishnan
• Aim & Purpose of the Meet
• Background of the Issue
• Statement of the Issue
• Status of the Issue
• Petitions to address the Issue: Floor open to all
• Next Steps/Follow-up: Dr. Jetty
• Concluding remarks: Justice K. G. Balakrishnan
• Thank you Note: Dr. Jetty
Introduction to the Chairman/Chairman’s words

• Introduction to the Chairman: Dr. Santha Jetty

• Chairman’s words: Honorable Justice Sri. K.G. Balakrishnan
 Aim & Purpose of the Meet
• The purpose of the meeting is to make our voices heard about the denial of social justice to the Dalit Christians which is
impeding their education, empowerment, and social mobility.
• Giving an understanding to the Committee that Dalit Christians are suffering from social discrimination and denial of social
justice in terms of catching educational and employment avenues.
• Merely following Christainaity is not a ticket to end economic and social sufferings. There is no new social form into which
the convert can migrate to mitigate social problems. There is no economic incentive upon conversion.
• We should remember Article 341 of the Constitution that the President may with respect to any State or Union territory, and
where it is a State after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the castes, races, or tribes, be
deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union Territory, as the case may be.
• Exclusion of the “Christians” from the list of scheduled castes made them ineligible for the benefits derived from the
Reservations system that provides representation in education, employment, government schemes, scholarships, and politics.
• Therefore, the Dalit Christians are “twice deprived,” as they suffer from their given Dalit status and from discrimination by
the Central and State Acts.
• As a result, a socio-economic gap has been growing between Dalit Non-Christians and Dalit Christians in matters of
educational opportunities and employment avenues.
• The purpose of the Meeting is to discuss every possibilities to include “Christians” to the list of the Scheduled Castes Order
(1950,1956, 1990).
 Apply Reservation based on social standing, not based on religious standing

Depressed
Castes
Excluded

Hindu Sikh Buddhist Christian Muslim

Is this not an unequal inheritance among children? Are some sections biological children

and are some others step-children? Is it not destroying the trust between the affected
people and governments?
 Background of the Issue
• Upon Independence of the country, the citizens were assured that “the State shall promote with special care the
educational and economic interests of the weaker section of the people and in particular of the Scheduled Castes
and Scheduled Tribes and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation”. In what way the
converted Christians are different from the non-convert Depressed Castes? Whereas the non-convert Depressed
Castes were placed in the category of the ‘Scheduled Castes’ and received the benefits of reservation and other
protective measures to improve their social and economic position, The exclusion of Christians from the scheduled
castes category and from the reservations in education and employment negatively impacted the progress of one
section of the Indian people.
• The constitutional guarantee of the Right to Freedom of Religion, Article 25 (1), states that “subject to public
order, morality, and health and to the other provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of
conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion.”
• If the freedom of conscience to follow their choice of faith means losing material privileges, in this tough
economic world, what choices are left to them? They are torn between their conscience to follow their choice of
faith and their livelihood and better opportunities.
• Even the “Carry Forward Rule” has not been applied to them which could regulate the appointment of persons of
Backward Castes i.e public employment in the absence of persons from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
was rejected by the Honourable Supreme Court on the grounds that “reservation for Backward Classes each year
should not be excessive so as to create a monopoly or to interfere unduly with the legitimate claims of the other
communities”.
 Statement of the Issue: Extend Reservations as per changing times

• We are requesting the Committee headed by the Ex-Chief Justice of India, to not only
examine the matter of applying Scheduled Caste status to new persons, castes, races, or tribes
who claim to have historically belonged to the Scheduled Castes, but have converted to a
religion other than those mentioned in the Presidential Orders issued from time to time (1950,
1956 & 1990) under Article 341 of the Constitution.
• In this particular meeting we are petitioning to take up the matter of conforming the SC status
to Dalits who have converted to Christianity.
• Recommend measures to stop persecution and stop attacks on Christians and on places of
worship.
• Permit Dalits who convert to Islam or Christianity to avail of reservation benefits under
the Scheduled Caste reservation quota as per the 2007 Report of the National Commission for
Religious and Linguistic Minorities.
• Increase the ceiling limit of the OBC Creamy Layer Exclusion criteria to a new limit of what
is presently existing.
 Present Status of the Issue
• Economic progress leads to social upliftment and Dalit Christains could benefit if the ring of
reservations could be extended. Economic progress reduces social discrimination also.
• The true secular sense will be achived only when “religious neutrality” comes into practice.
• A need to re-evaluate the “inclusion criteria” for a secular-nationalist agenda.
• The very nature of reservations is to reduce socio-economic disparities between people, an all-
inclusive social policy may reduce class divisions, both economic and social, not only between
the non-Christian Dalits (Scheduled Castes) and Christian Dalits, but across other caste
frameworks as well.
• Presently, the Centre has appointed a National Panel to examine, whether Dalits converted to
Christianity, should be given Scheduled Caste status.
• The three-member commission is headed by former Chief Justice of India Justice K.G.
Balakrishnan, for examining whether the Scheduled Caste (SC) status can be accorded to a new
person, who claims to have historically belonged to the SC community, but converted to other
religions,particularly to Christianity due to some reasons.
 Petitions to the Chairman
• Floor open to all, one by one.
 Evaluation/Follow Up
• Dr. Santha Jetty
 Concluding Remarks

• Justice K.G. Balakrishnan