Lack of Political Conviction, Active Reluctance of Bureaucracy Witholds Sachar Report Implementation: Harsh Mander
By Harsh Mander
Updated Monday, 05 September 2011 20:09:30 - IST (UTC +5:30)
At a media meet held in New Delhi, Zakat Foundation of India's President Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood made a PowerPoint presentation on the investigations done by Harsh Mander's group on the Government's response to Sachar recommendations. The Study says that the political valor and vision that informed the appointment of Sachar Committee is not matched by that required to build an appropriate and adequate response to the multiple development deficits suffered by the teeming majority of Indian Muslims. Right from the union ministry of minority affairs down to the district level and below, the officers lack conviction, clout and even a mandate to directly tackle the socio-economic structural discrimination and denial encountered by the Muslim community. On the other hand, the political managers of the ruling combine possibly caution against providing grist to the opposition’s charges of ‘minority appeasement’. They fear the political consequences of the government being seen as openly taking sides with a community which is currently stigmatised as regressive and violent, globally and nationally. Therefore they resort to small poorly budgeted almost token interventions, the Study eloquently testifies.
The Study adds, while behind the appointment of Sachar Committee, the policy effort was to address Muslim deprivation it, however, morphed into one for all minorities by the time the policy reached the program stage. In practice, the programs have reduced to area schemes that mostly miss even other minorities. Also, there is complete disconnect between the minority welfare infrastrucure and Muslim civil society. The government's efforts to create awareness about its schemes are either non existent or very poor. Same is the case with Muslim representation in decision making bodies. The media meet was also addressed by Dr Zafrul Islam Khan, Working President, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, Mamdooha Majid, Member of the Women's Cell in All India Muslim Personal Law Board, column writer Sadia Dehlvi and well known Muslim religious leader Maulana Aroz Alam Qasmi.
Dr Mahmood highlighted the specific instances noted down by Harsh Mander's group in different Muslim concentration districts. In Mewat (80% Muslim population), his team found Schools in dilapidated conditions. However, the funds granted for minority development were spent in the neighboring wealthy non-Muslim villages. In Darbhanga, in 2009-10, sixtysix new schools were opened under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan ostensibly to enhance access to children of minority communities. However, out of these, only seven schools have been opened in minority concentration areas. In 24 Parganas (50% Muslims), only 2.2% minority BPL households are covered by the self-employment scheme; less than one percent households have actually received bank credit. In 2010, till November, not a single Muslim self-help group had received the bank credit.
Dr Zafar Mahmood strongly echoed Harsh Mander's plea that the Government has to muster the will to politically admit the cumulative neglect and discrimination which has held back India's largest socio-religious minority. Diffidence at the policy level to clearly focus on Muslim deprivation translates into active reluctance by the implementing agencies on the ground to target Muslims even in districts with high Muslim concentration. Hence, Harsh Mander has rightly argued that the Government must create a separate budgetary Sub-Plan for investment exclusively for the Development Plans for Muslims like the successive governments have been doing for Scheduled Castes (which too are identified, by definition, on religious basis).
Under the Prime Minister's 15-Point Program the Government must enhance the outlay for minorities from 15% to at least 19% (that's their proportion in population). According to a crucial Harsh suggestion, for infrastructure schemes, the village or ward (against district, as of now) should be considered as the unit for planning and implementation of the minority development schemes. Simultaneously, establish Facilitation Centres at block and district levels run by Muslim youth as information dissemination and guidance facilities in respect of the government schemes and entitlements. Create a special Muslim component plan for 25000 crore. An annual budget of Rs 15000 crore for madarsas modernization scheme and establishment of new educational institutions for Muslims and another annual budget of Rs 10000 crore for large scale skills development program and small enterprises. Also, the Government must immediately act on the recommendations of the expert groups for appointment of Equal Opportunity Commission and Incentives for Diversity Scheme.
The speakers at the media meet lamentedthat rather than seriously examining the sympathetic and egalitarian sentiment behind this deeply thought out and well researched Study and the remedial measures suggested therein, the Government has only tried to find statistical fault in the Report. Such lackadaisical attitude reflects from the statement given last week by the union Minister os State for Minority Affairs Vincent H. Pala in the Rajya Sabha. In his enthusiasm to defend the central government even at huge cost to Muslim interests, the Minister gave to carte blanche even to the state governments that Harsh Mander's group visited, surveyed and reported upon. The speakers at the media meet said that it seems the political combine ruling at the centre is interested more in window dressing for vote-bank purposes: Muslims should just 'feel good' rather than getting their fundamental rights of equal educational and economic opportunities. The speakers unanimously demanded that the Government should take the cue from the Harsh Mander Report and substantially revise it's strategy for implementing the recommendations of the Sachar Committee in letter and spirit. They urged the National Advisory Council and its chairperson Sonia Gandhi to truly appreciate the valid concern expressed through Harsh Mander Report and issue the required policy guidelines to the central and state governments. Sadia Dehlvi even suggested organizing a demonstration at Jantar Mantar.
Tags: Harsh Mander Sachar Report, implementation, political bureaucratic hurdles
-
YET another link to the terror web cast by the RSS and its affiliates has been established with the arrest of one Kamal Chauhan by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for his alleged involvement...
2012-02-21 16:47:22 |
0 comments -
Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the acting US envoy and lodged a “strong protest” over the tabling of a resolution in the US Congress seeking the right to...
2012-02-21 14:08:13 |
0 comments -
New Delhi: At a time when world economy is in bad shape, EU zone and US are facing grave financial crises, America and allies maneuvering to find a face saving exit from the mess, creation of their...
2012-02-21 14:03:38 |
0 comments -
Tehran: Senior UN inspectors arrived in Iran on Monday to push for transparency about its disputed nuclear programme, a day after Tehran responded defiantly to tightened EU sanctions by halting oil...
2012-02-21 14:00:20 |
0 comments
-
Kabul: The commander of international troops in Afghanistan has ordered an investigation into what NATO says was improper disposal of a large number of Islamic religious materials, including...
2012-02-21 13:52:32 |
0 comments -
New Delhi: An RSS sympathiser in Jharkhand has told investigators that months before the February 2007 terrorist attack on the Samjhauta Express, he had seen detonators similar to the ones used in...
2012-02-21 13:48:09 |
0 comments -
“The Delhi : Police has turned Jamia Nagar into a hunting ground. Residents of the area are being made the scapegoat for every criminal activity and terrorist attack. The entire locality is in the...
2012-02-21 13:41:57 |
0 comments -
Tehran: Tehran will cut oil exports to more EU nations if they remain hostile, the deputy oil minister who heads Iran's state oil company said today, a day after sales were halted to France and...
2012-02-21 13:35:51 |
0 comments
-
Chandigarh: Five men arrested last week in Patiala on charges of planning a dacoity have confessed to carrying out at least four bombings targeted at Muslims in Haryana in 2009 and 2010, police said...
2012-02-21 13:32:01 |
0 comments -
Feb. 20 -- Iran stopped sales of crude to French and British buyers to pre-empt a European Union ban on imports of its oil and as OPEC’s second-biggest producer negotiates contracts to supply...
2012-02-20 23:13:45 |
0 comments -
After years of relentlessly seeking to bring the weight of international pressure against Iran through sanctions, the United States and other Western powers appeared to be backing off from a hawkish...
2012-02-20 23:09:11 |
0 comments -
SYDNEY: A clinical Sri Lanka rode on captain Mahela Jayawardene's unbeaten half century to register their first win of the cricket tri-series with an eight-wicket crushing of Australia in a...
2012-02-18 15:40:17 |
0 comments
-
New Delhi: Supreme Court has stayed trail of TADA cases against Abu Salem, in which convict my be punished with death sentences. Abu Salem is facing charges for his alleged role in 1993 Mumbai serial...
2012-02-18 11:28:58 |
0 comments -
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday said castration would be the most befitting punishment for paedophiles and repeat offenders of child sexual abuse. The court’s observation came while sentencing a...
2012-02-18 11:04:46 |
0 comments -
Startling revelations by Kamal Chouhan, an RSS activist, are helping investigators understand how the Samjhauta Express bombs were brought to the capital, who all took it to the railway station and...
2012-02-18 10:55:28 |
0 comments -
New Delhi: The UPA Government is concerned over the possibility of the covert Israel- Iran conflict spilling over in the national capital, with Israel repeatedly pointing an accusing finger at Iran...
2012-02-16 13:10:59 |
0 comments
-
Ahmedabad: In fresh trouble for the Narendra Modi government, the Gujarat High Court on Wednesday issued a contempt notice to it for not obeying its order to compensate people whose shops were burnt...
2012-02-16 12:06:47 |
0 comments -
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday started hearing the debate on legality of decriminalising same sex behaviour in private among consenting adults by asking contestants whether the “order of...
2012-02-16 11:40:53 |
0 comments
-
Tehran: Senior UN inspectors arrived in Iran on Monday to push for transparency about its disputed nuclear programme, a day after Tehran responded defiantly to tightened EU sanctions by halting oil...
2012-02-21 14:00:20 |
0 comments -
“The Delhi : Police has turned Jamia Nagar into a hunting ground. Residents of the area are being made the scapegoat for every criminal activity and terrorist attack. The entire locality is in the...
2012-02-21 13:41:57 |
0 comments -
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response from the Union home ministry, Delhi Police and Maharashtra's ATS on the petition of Taqi Ahmad, brother of arrested accused Naquee, seeking a...
2012-02-15 18:57:08 |
0 comments -
Mumbai: Muslims would have been termed terrorists or ISI agents and sent to jail if they had protested to take possession of Ismail Yusuf College the way Dalits did to get the Indu Mill land for...
2012-02-15 18:16:10 |
0 comments
-
The Hindu Mohammad Aamir Khan and his mother at their home in New Delhi. Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma The incredible story of boy ‘terrorist' Mohammad Aamir whose youth was destroyed because of his...
2012-02-15 11:33:14 |
0 comments -
Mumbai: A Bombay court granted bail to Abdul Wahab Umar and Qamar Alam Shaikh and Nasim Khan on Wednesday, who were arrested by the Anti Terrorist Squad, Maharashtra. Umar and Sheikh are the students...
2012-01-12 19:47:52 |
0 comments -
Azamgarh (Uttar Pradesh): A single bamboo stick holds the thatched roof together, the discoloured floor serves as both bench and chair, the kids sit in neat rows and a man sits on a printed mattress....
2012-01-06 12:22:54 |
0 comments -
New Delhi, 3 January 2012: According to the Report of the Returning Officer Mr A R Shervani today, 3 January 2012, Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan has been elected as the President of the AIMMM for a term of...
2012-01-04 15:03:29 |
0 comments
-
What is wrong with our education system and what could be done to set things right? This is an important question and needs answer for improvement. Dr. Manzoor Aalm dwelt with the question in a brief...
2011-10-22 19:50:07 |
0 comments -
India is at the threshold of a New Deal for 200 million Muslims of India, at the behest of the world's super power, the USA. Signs are unmistakable that the initiative has been forced on India by the...
2011-09-19 15:14:17 |
0 comments -
Cutting through the hype and getting down to brass tacks, amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran explains to Ashish Khetan the Supreme Court order in the 2002 Gujarat massacre case The Supreme Court...
2011-09-15 13:30:41 |
0 comments -
Lack of Political Conviction, Active Reluctance...
A cross section of the Muslims of India have expressed their deep concern over the Government's summary and unjust rejection of the well researched Study titled "Promises to Keep" done by India's...
2011-09-05 20:32:30 |
0 comments
-
Moodbidri college student is determined to wear headscarf in classroom. She has sought Dakshina Kannada DC’s intervention and says if required she would move the Rashtrapati Bhavan Mangalore...
2011-08-14 17:16:46 |
0 comments -
Israel's approval of construction plans for 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem has triggered an international condemnation, and reignited a dispute with Washington over the threat of new settlements to...
2011-08-14 16:22:07 |
0 comments -
New Delhi: Agony of nine Muslim youths, arrested in the 2006 Malegaon blast that killed 38 people, is likely to end soon as the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has decided not to oppose their...
2011-08-11 18:59:12 |
0 comments -
New Delhi : The government’s Haj subsidy bill is set to reduce further as the Ministry of Civil Aviation has shortlisted two private carriers to operate the Haj flights, said ministry officials....
2011-08-11 13:09:14 |
0 comments
-
A glimmer of hope, yes! But it is not enough. That's what those wrongly implicated in the Mecca Masjid blast case think of the compensation recommended by the National Commission for Minorities...
2011-08-10 23:55:31 |
0 comments -
Mumbai- The state government has sought the Home Department’s opinion on ordering a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of Wakf land on Altamount Road by Reliance Industries...
2011-08-02 18:49:53 |
0 comments
![[Valid RSS]](/images/valid-rss-rogers.png "Validate my RSS feed")