Why were Muslims always kept away from the benefits of reservation?

Why were Muslims always kept away from the benefits of reservation?

The Constitution in 1982 specified 15% and 7.5% of vacancies in public sector and government-aided educational institutions for SCs, STs. As per the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies Order 2008, 84 seats (18.42%) are reserved for SC/Dalits and 47 (8.66%) for ST are provided in Lok Sabha³. And now there is almost a continuous increase of seats for them as a result of delimitation of constituencies combined with reservation benefits- as evident from the following table.

Table 1: Showing Seat Distribution in Lok Sabha

Yr. of Election	Seat reserved for SCs	Seat reserved for STs	Total Seats
1951	72	26	489
1957	76	31	494
1962	76	31	494
1967	77	37	520
1971	76	36	518
1977	78	38	542
1980	79	41	529
1984-5	79	41	541
1989	78	39	529
1991-2	79	41	537
1996	79	41	543
1998	79	41	543
1999	79	41	543
2004	79	41	543
2009	84	47	543

Courtesy:Electoral Statistics by Election Commission of India onhttp://eci.nic.in/eci_main1/current/Electoral%20Statisitics%20Pocket%20Book%202014.pdf

If Muslims were also included in reservation and given the chance in decision-making and policy-formulation process perhaps their concern would have been taken care of in a much better way, and through schemes and policies their social and economic issues would have been handled better. For that, right after the Sachar report presentation another 73^rd-like Constitutional Amendment was needed to be made immediately, through which they could get the chance to be included. Their participation at the lower level politics would have empowered them significantly.

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Posted by: Abu Taha <abutaharahman@yahoo.com>