The standing committee on social justice and empowerment, headed by veteran BJP parliamentarian Ramesh Bais, said “the mission should be to overcome and eliminate communalism through confidence-building measures, speedy rehabilitation of riot victims, massive mobilisation of human resources and investment.“
In its tenth report relating to Ministry of Minority Affairs on “the implementation of Prime Minister's new 15-Point Programme,“ the committee expressed its “considered view that it is incumbent upon the government to assure that the minorities do not feel neglected, persecuted or harbour any sense of alienation.They need to be assured that they are coparceners and have equal right in the developmental drive of the nation.“
The committee noted that protection and promotion of the rights of minorities is one of the main features of the Constitution.The committee, however, found that despite such constitutional safeguards, “the principal minority community of the country, namely, Muslims, which constitutes 13.4 percent of the total population, stands deprived of the fruits of development as they lag behind in all socioeconomic indices compared to general population. This aspect has been amply brought out by the Sachar Committee Report.“
Dealing with points 13 to 15 of the PM's 15-Point Programme, relating to prevention and control of communal riots, the committee noticed that there had been no studies analyses undertaken by the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA) on the effect of communal riots on the minorities, especially on their psychology and change in their behavioral patterns, leading to adverse impact on their education, health and job prospects.
When the ministry was asked specific questions whether there was any correlation between standard of living and communal harmony and whether poor standard of living, especially among Muslims, has affected the communal harmony in the country and if so, what additional socio-economic measures and steps are needed from the minority perspectives for reducing their sense of alienation, the MoMA did not have any answer.
In this backdrop, the committee expressed its shock that despite a plethora of schemes for minorities, the Muslim community being the largest minority, is still lagging far behind in respect of socio-economic parameters and social status.The committee felt that “social and religious divide, mistrust and fear are the root causes of poor standard of living among Muslims.Even if some progress has been made in the Muslim communities in terms of relevant parameters, they have not been able to catch up with the rest of the population.“
This, in the view of the committee, gives rise to the question of the efficacy and reach of the various programmes schemes for accelerating the development of the minority community. This, along with absence of relevant data on the output from the ministry, shows that a huge amount of money specially sanctioned for the minorities has not been utilised properly.
The committee felt that had there have been concerted efforts and better synergy between the central and state governments, Muslims would have surged ahead in terms of developmental indices, as has been in the case of Christians and Sikhs, with the aid and assistance of the minority-targeted programmes and schemes involving thousands of crores year after year. “Undoubtedly, there cannot be real national development unless the minorities, a sizable section of our population, march ahead at equal pace, holding their head high without any fear,“ it noted.
The Union government had circulated revised guidelines to promote communal harmony to the states and Union Territories in 2008. The activities of all organisations having a bearing on communal harmony in the country are under constant watch of law-enforcing agencies and requisite legal action is taken wherever necessary. Sensitising the police force on communal issues is an imperative need.
“No civilised nation, proud of its pluralistic traditions, can afford to ill-treat its minorities. On the other hand, minorities also need to come out from the sense of fear and mistrust, more so when they constitute more than 18 % of the nation's population. The community leaders have great responsibility in motivating the youth in the nation-building process.
India is not only the largest parliamentary democracy in the world, it is also secular and most vibrant in terms of having a collage of socio-religious and linguistic communities. There is hope in the air. Politics is changing as the public discourse becomes more inclusive,“ the standing committee observed.
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