The politics of minority quotas
They say the real test of a democracy is how it treats its minorities. In India, the tragedy is, any debate on the minorities gets woefully politicised. The most recent debate is around what has come to be called the minority quota. The Centre, ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls, said it wanted to reserve a sub-quota for minorities within the 27 per cent OBC quota. Recently, the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down the quota within a quota for minorities arguing India's constitution does not allow religion to be a basis for reservation. We ask, is religion worse than caste as a basis for affirmative action and reservation?
