The East Indians of Bombay

GR 341 East Indians

History and Initiatives

Late Oneil Kinny from Kolvery village (Santa Cruz East) was the East Indian who initiated the process to strive for the OBC status of East Indians. There were many East Indians who supported his initiative with their time and money. Associations like BEIA (Bombay East Indian Association) in its own wisdom felt that this initiative was not aligned with its charter and hence initially did not align or support this movement but many of its members (including some members from the managing committee) got directly involved.

Late Oniel Kinny distributed form in various parishes to map the demographics of the East Indians. He along with his family sorted out these to be in a particular order. These from were then submitted by Late Oniel Kinny and Prem Moraes (Pond Gauthan – Vile Parle West) to the Minority Commission in Pune. They had to undertake two trips – each trip delivering around 20,000 forms.

The Commission advised that the application should (preferably) be from a body of persons rather than individuals. Since, BEIA sought not to get involved directly. Some members under the guidance of the Church formed Maharashtra Christi Boomputra Bandhav Sangathana (MCBBS) solely for the cause of OBC for the East Indian Catholics. They had meeting in various villages, Vile Parle, Juhu, Kalina, Borivli, Gokhivara, Kurla, Vikhroli, Vasai, Gorai, Manori, Khar, etc… Key East Indians from surrounding villages came together to build a better data, as was requested by the Minority Commission

A fresh application was made by the MCBBS for the OBC Status to the Minority commission. Even though MCBBS made the application, they ensured that the East Indians representative Association i.e. the BEIA also be a party to the application.

Various follow-up were needed with the Minority Commission including meeting up with political parties to impress upon them the issues. Almost all of these political parties helped in whatever way they could. Finally in 2006, the GR was issued with East Indians being listed on 341

MCBBS Meetings and APPlication

ISSUES Post GR 341

While there was a call for the MCBBS to be registered. The debate was whether this would then divide the East Indians as a community. Various leaders including the Church were consulted. A decision was taken that since the key objective of the OBC status was achieved, the MCBBS should let the BEIA be the certifying authority if that was agreeable to the government or maybe a sub-committee. In essence the MCBBS should not become a registered association, and hence not split the East Indian Community

Over the years few East Indians have received the OBC certificates as the Government agencies refuse to visit the villages to ascertain the authenticity of person being East Indian by spot verification. They are solely relying on documentary proof were the word East Indian is present. This challenge still exists with various people trying their best to resolve.

OBC v/s SC/ST

Post receiving the OBC status, there were (and still are) voices that want East Indians to be considered as Schedules Caste or Scheduled Tribe