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Muslim uplift : Sachar recommendations to be implemented in toto |
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Rejecting the BJP criticism of socalled minority appeasement, the UPA Government has made it clear that the Sachar Committee’s recommendations on uplift of the Muslim community would be fully implemented this year, 2007. The point was made forcefully by both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Minorities Affairs Minister A.R. Antulay last week.
Antulay, speaking in New Delhi on Dec. 28, said that the Government will not only implement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee, but also take action on its observations. He was speaking on the sidelines of the international conference on Dalits and Minorities, organised by Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party.
Observers say that Antulay’s statement is significant as this is the first time that the Government unequivocally expressed its intention to carry out in toto the Sachar Committee’s recommendations. Earlier, Antulay had been saying that an action plan on the Sachar Committee recommendation would be ready by February.
The Minister’s latest announcement appears to have been made with an eye on the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, where the Congress is anxious to improve its prospects. The sizable Muslim electorate in the state is expected to play a significant role in influencing the outcome of the election.
With the dalits being another formidable vote bank in Uttar Pradesh, the conference has been strategically timed by Paswan, who is keen to forge a joint front comprising the Congress, former Prime Minister V.P. Singh’s Jan Morcha, the Left parties and his own LJP to boost their tally in the state.
Among the salient recommendations of the Sachar Panel report are providing reservations for the dalits among Muslims, nominating members of the community to local government bodies like panchayats and municipalities, budgetary allocation for the development of Muslim-dominated areas in proportion to their population percentage and setting up an equal opportunities commission to address their grievances about discrimination.
Speaking at the conference, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil assured the minorities that the government was committed to ensure that stern action is taken against those who indulge in communal violence. He said legislation on communal harmony was on the anvil and it would ensure that victims of communal riots and the kin of those killed in such incidents get immediate compensation. In the Bill, awaiting the approval of a Parliamentary Standing Committee, the Government has also proposed that those found responsible for instigating communal riots should be given “double” the punishment provided for such offences under the existing law.
The Bill also envisages setting up special courts to try such cases and special investigation teams to probe incidents of communal violence, the Minister said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Dec. 27, unfazed by the BJP’s insinuations of minority appeasement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for a mindset change to improve the condition of Muslims and Dalits.
Inaugurating the conference of Dalits and Minorities, the Prime Minister did not refer to any political entity or grouping. “Even as absolute poverty may be reduced by growth, inequalities can get sharpened. This can be politically and socially destabilising,” he said. “Hence, we have to take steps that reduce social and economic inequalities without hurting the process of growth and without reducing the incentives for individual enterprise and creativity.”
The Prime Minister’s appeal was for inclusive growth for which he had recently advocated the weaker sections’ first claim on the country’s resources. Referring to the findings of the Sachar Committee, he said : “It is incumbent upon any democratically elected government to redress such imbalances and eradicate such inequities.”
Dr. Manmohan Singh said : “The principle that explicit measures should be taken to protect the interests of minorities is an idea embedded in our political discourse and in our Constitutional provisions.”
Administrative measures to develop capabilities of weaker groups were not the be-all and end-all. “We need a change in mindsets. This requires a wider, broad-based social, political and cultural movement against all forms of discrimination and injustice. The battle for social equality has to be waged and won in the minds of our people,” he said.
This was the first time that the Prime Minister - who shared the dais with Paswan, former Prime Ministers I.K. Gujral and V.P. Singh - was speaking on the subject after his “first claim” remarks triggered a political storm and stalled Parliament during the winter session.
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