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| Muslims for reservations at national level | | Govt. against separate ministry for minority welfare | | From B L KAK
NEW DELHI, July 7: The Congress-led coalition government at the Centre has no plans to create a separate ministry for Muslim minority welfare. Even as the UPA government has taken note of a variety of difficulties the minority comunity is confronted with, the demand for a separate ministry for the Muslims is not as simple as it is for its votaries.
The present government, a senior Ministerial source told EARLY TIMES, would not like to stir a host of enemies by accepting the demand. In plain language, in the given situation, the question of creating a separate ministry for the minority comunity "just does not arise", the source said.
The demand for a separate ministry for Muslim minority welfare had found a forceful expression in a four-page memorandum a group of Muslim MPs had submitted to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, not long ago. Representing several political parties and hailing from different States in the country, the MPs, during their meting with the Prime Minister, called for early steps by the government to create a separate ministry for minority welfare.
Justifying the demand in this regard, the MPs said in the memorandum that different departments and ministries of the Union government run several institutions and organizations and programmes and schemes meant for minorities, particularly Muslims. National Commission for Minorities, National Minorities Development and Finace Corporation, Maulana Azad Education Foundation and Central Wakfs Council function under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) implements several schemes and programmes for the educational advancement of Muslims and the promotion of Urdu language. The implementation of the 15-point programme for minorites is entrusted to the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Central Haj Committee functions under the control of the Ministry of External Affairs.
Muslim MPs obviously had built a strong case in support of a separate ministry of minority welfare, when it was argued, through the memorandum, that several statutory bodies, commissions and organizations set up under executive orders relating to the minorites are working under different ministries. And the MPs' grievance: Various schemes and programmes for minorities (read Muslims) are not being implemented effectively due to the lack of proper coordination among different departments and ministries handling these tasks.
In 1993, five communities--Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis--were declared as minority communities. According to the memorandum, with a population of 189.5 million as per 2001 census, the five notified minority communities constitute 18.42 per cent of the total population of the country. Muslims accccount for a population of 138.19 million, followed by Christians with 24.08 million, Sikhs with 19.21 million and Buddhists with 7.95 million. There are only 69,601 Parsis in the country.
The MPs told the Prime Minister that the representation of minorites, particularly the Muslims, "is very negligible" in the civil services and various ministries and departments of the Union government. The work participation rate among Muslims, as per the 2001 census, is, according to the memorandum, also the lowsest at 31.3 per cent as against the national average of 39.1 per cent.
If the figure-work in the memorandum were to be any guide, the work participation rate among Muslim men is lowest at 47.5 per cent against the national average opf 51.7 per cent. Again, the work participation rate among Muslim women is lowest at mere 14.1 per cent against national average of 25.6 per cent.
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