Delhi based NGO demands White Paper on community based allocations in Kerala

New Delhi: Forum for Equity, Justice and Peace, a Delhi based Civil Society has demanded the Kerala government to issue a White Paper on welfare schemes and programs for the Muslim minority in the state to prevent misconceptions that create communal divisions.

In a press release, the organisation said that the government should disclose the allocation of government resources to communities, with respect to the constitution, based on the proportion of the state's population and community status. It would help to subside false propaganda, it says.

The submission of the online request to the Kerala government, which includes 11 demands, was inaugurated at Malappuram by Sayyid Munavvar Ali Shihab Thangal, President of Kerala unit of Muslim Youth League, the youth wing of Indian Union Muslim League.

The eleven clauses in the online request include publishing the posts, classified separately, in Bureaucracy, Police, Judiciary, Schools (aided and government). Also positions, separately classified, in various corporations, boards under the state government and direct appointments made by the government (departments and posts separately classified according to the proportion of the population). Allocation of community reservation for each government posts based on the proportion of the population.

The request includes publication of the seat allocation statistics at educational institutions (aided and government) with schools, colleges, universities, and other public educational institutions separately classified. The required allocation of seats based on community reservation. Also, the share of aided educational institutions and government land allotted for each community in the state of Kerala to population ratio is sought.

The NGO , Civil Society Forum for Equity, Justice and Peace which put forth these demands in online is an organisation of teachers, researchers, students etc., from various central and state universities. The organisation also includes journalists, cultural volunteers, activists etc. Abdulla Abdul Hamid, faculty at Delhi University, is its coordinator, and cultural activist and intellect Sayyid Ashraf Thangal is the chairman.

The organisation aims to conduct in-depth studies on various backward, Dalit and minority communities, healthy discussions in a secular democratic society and constructive interventions to maintain peace and religious harmony.

The request was signed by many, including people from various social, political, cultural and voluntary fields, while the signature collection campaign is still alive. The online petition came out in the backdrop of a verdict by Kerala High Court, which had on May 29 quashed the state government's orders sub-classifying the minorities by providing merit-cum-means scholarship at 80% to Muslims and 20% to Latin Catholic Christians and Converted Christians.

On Friday, an all-party meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had decided to have legal scrutiny and a study by experts on the High Court verdict on minoruty scholarships before arriving at a decision.