By Prashant K. Nanda, IANS
New Delhi : Quotas in educational institutions, the problems of minorities and the social exclusion of several communities have now become the subject of a master's course at the Jamia Milia Islamia varsity here.
Christened 'MA in Social Exclusion and Inclusive Growth', Jamia Milia will start the post graduation course next month.
"Reservation for Dalits, Muslims and the social exclusion of children, displaced citizens and the government's affirmative steps will be part of the two-year degree programme," said Mohammad Mujtaba Khan, director of the K.R. Narayanan Centre for Dalit and Minority Studies at Jamia.
"This is a first of its kind course anywhere in India and we are sure the degree would help our people know more about a social concern in depth," Khan told IANS.
University officials said a course on the subject has become relevant as social exclusion has come to acquire serious space in academic debates, political discussions and intellectual discourses.
"In a predominantly welfare state like India, the state's retreat from the welfare sector has excluded a large segment of the population from the path of development. Under the new dispensation the marginalized strata are left with no option but to resort to violent socio-economic movements," Khan said.
"In view of the growing unrest among the excluded groups it is pertinent to study the problem of social exclusion and its possible implications on the society at large."
The MA programme will have 10 papers – five papers each year. In the second year, students will have an option of taking up all five or studying three papers of their choice and doing their dissertation in one of the remaining two papers.
Khan said the social exclusion of minority Christians in Muslim countries, the plight of blacks and similar instances will make up one of the papers.
The German ban on Muslim women wearing veils, the ban by French institutions on Sikh turbans, the British restriction on Sikh students taking 'kirpans' to classrooms and reported Australian antagonism towards Indian students will find place among the course curricula.
"The MA programme would be interdisciplinary. It will draw examples from last year's reservation tussle. It will ask students to debate, question and read in depth about such things," the professor said.
"We have received a go-ahead from both the University Grant Commission (UGC) and the education department."
In the first batch there will be 30 students.
"We received over 150 applications till Monday, the last day to submit applications. There were a lot of applications from Maharashtra. Some have even come in from foreign countries," he noted.