NEW DELHI, 17 January 2008 — Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil said yesterday that the government was exploring possibilities of earmarking quotas for minorities in educational and government jobs. Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes already have quotas in the sectors.
Speaking at the annual conference of the State Minorities Commission, Patil said: “We have to see how this can be done in the best possible manner. Whatever can be done for this purpose should be done,” he added.
He said it was the government’s obligation to protect minorities so that the country remained united. Though there were enough plans and funds for the development of minorities, Patil said: “I am not sure whether we have the machinery to implement these plans and whether the training required to implement them is available.”
Shafi Qureshi, chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), said there were certain drawbacks that prevented the benefits of various schemes from reaching the minorities. “The eleventh plan document is a laudable attempt to set right the deficiencies in empowering the minorities. But it is disappointing to note that the recommendation of the commission to create a minority sub-plan does not find place in the document,” he said.
With members of the minority communities seldom aware of development programs and the manner in which they can take advantage of related benefits, measures need to be taken to ensure that these reach them directly, Qureshi said.
Besides, the NCM does not have powers to independently investigate complaints of discrimination and deprivation of rights of minorities, he said. “If the commission has to play a proactive role for the benefit of the minority communities, its finances and manpower have to be increased,” he said.
Among the issues, the conference focused on were: Status of minorities, prime minister’s new 15-point program, conditions of Muslims as reflected in the Sachar Committee Report and the functioning of state commissions.
With respect to powers and functions of state commissions, the participants felt that these should be enhanced. It was felt necessary that each state commission should at least be provided with a functional and adequate secretariat.
Emphasis was laid on addressing problems of Muslims. Muslims have the highest rate of stunting and second-highest rate of underweight children; only about four percent Muslim students are enrolled in madrasas; 25 percent Muslim children in the 6-14 years age group have either never attended school or have dropped out; 61 percent of total Muslim workers are self-employed as against 55 percent Hindu workers; less than 24 percent Muslim regular workers are employed in public sector or in government jobs; share of Muslim men workers engaged in street vending is 12 percent as against the national average of less than eight percent; share of Muslims in defense workers is only four percent; and compared to other regular workers, a much larger proportion of Muslim regular workers have no written contract (73 percent as against 52 percent for Hindus) and no social security benefit (71 percent against national average of 55 percent).
