Anglo-Indian leaders call for restoration of reservation in Parliament and Assemblies

Sub: Polity

Sec: Constitution

Context:

A meeting of leaders from the Anglo-Indian community raised concerns regarding the lack of political representation and socio-economic challenges faced by their community in India.
They urged the Centre to reinstate the quota for Anglo Indians in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies. They also asked the Centre to conduct a caste census to ascertain the number of Anglo-Indians in the country.

Who is an Anglo-Indian:

The Anglo-Indian community in India traces its origins to an official policy of the British East India Company to encourage marriages of its officers with local women.
Article 366(2) of the constitution of India states: “An Anglo-Indian means a person whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent but who is domiciled within the territory of India and is or was born within such territory of parents habitually resident therein and not established there for temporary purposes only.”

Reservation in Legislative Bodies:

Due to their small numerical size and dispersed presence across India, the Anglo-Indians were granted reservations in legislative bodies.
Anglo-Indians were provided two nominated seats in the Lok Sabha and one nominated seat in the State Legislative Assemblies to ensure adequate representation of the community.
In January 2020, the Anglo-Indian reserved seats in the Parliament and State Legislatures were abolished by the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019.

Request for Caste Census:

The meeting called on the government to include a separate category for Anglo-Indians in the upcoming Census, with a specific column to enumerate the community.
They criticized the government’s reliance on the 2011 Census, which was not a caste census and did not reflect the true population of Anglo-Indians.
According to the leaders, only 296 Anglo-Indians were recorded in the census, which they argued was an insufficient and inaccurate representation of the community’s actual numbers, estimated to be around 400,000.

Socio-Economic Challenges:

The leaders highlighted the ongoing struggles faced by the Anglo-Indian community, citing a 2013 study by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
The report revealed that the community suffers from educational and economic backwardness, housing problems, and an identity crisis. Despite these challenges, the government’s data failed to reflect these issues, and the community felt neglected and overlooked in policymaking.
The meeting put forward a demand to appoint a Commission to ascertain the social, economic and educational situation of the Anglo-Indian community.