In regard to this amendment, I would beg the House to consider that the present proposal contained in article 295-A only refers to the reservation for scheduled castes and the scheduled Tribes. It does not refer to articles 293 or 295. When 293 and 295 were adopted and a decision was reached among the various members of the Minorities Committee, this nomination was given to the Anglo-Indian Community in place of reservation. The first proposal was that the Anglo-Indian Community will be given reservation like the Scheduled Castes and the scheduled Tribes but as that involved weightage, ultimately it took the shape of nomination. It was absolutely clear from the very beginning that the Anglo-Indian community will get this reservation through nomination only for ten years. It was never agreed that they will get it for all time; and when we did not move our amendments to articles 293 and 295 it was under the belief that as a matter of fact this community also will get this reservation through nomination for ten years. Therefore, if only the agreement is to be implemented, then even ten years should be the time fixed for this nomination. If there is no such agreement, then I would place other reasons before the House. I was also a member of the Minorities Committee and I remember that when the decision was arrived as it was made absolutely clear that this will be only for ten years. I have consulted some of the prominent Members who took part in arriving at this decision and I am reliably informed that this was the intention when the agreement took place. Because we did not want to disturb the agreement among our leaders we refrained from moving amendments, it is therefore only fair that this reservation be extended for ten years only. If we look at the reasons why this reservation is given to the Anglo-Indian community, even on other grounds except agreement, these provisions for nomination should not inure for a period longer than ten years.
