Help minorities use existing quotas better instead of creating new ones

The Supreme Court today refused to stay the Andhra Pradesh High court’s decision to quash a creation of a 4.5 percent sub-quota for minorities in educational institutes, a move that according to Firstpost Editor-in-Chief R Jagannathan is a welcome one.

“The Andhra High Court was right in saying that minority sub quota for Muslims was ill thought out and there are no studies to support the quota,” he says.

The problem was that the government pushed through this decision just before the Uttar Pradesh elections without thinking through what it wanted to do and its implications, he says.

“If OBCs Muslims, are unable to benefit from the already existing backward quotas, then we need to ask the question what is stopping them from benefiting from it. If it is proved that they are backward among the backwards and deserve sub quota, giving it to them will open another Pandora’s box,” Jagannathan says.

In the Dalit and SC/ST quota it is clearly established that the creamy layer benefit the most. The maha-Dalits and super dalits can ask for a similar quota, who have benefited the least from the existing quota system, he says.

A better solution? The government would do well to create help centers for OBC Muslims were they can take advantage of the backward quota.

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