Minorities especially Muslims had something to cheer up in 2009 as the Centre tabled in Parliament the Rangnath Mishra Commission report, which recommended reservation for them.
While recommending 15 per cent quota for minorities, including 10 per cent for Muslims, the report also advocated grant of Scheduled Caste (SC) status to Dalits in all minority communities thereby seeking reservation for those Hindu Dalits, who converted to Islam and Christianity.
The government preferred "proper consideration" of the report before implementing it. The Minority Affairs Ministry headed by Salman Khurshid has already come under pressure from various organisations to speed up the process.
A 12-member delegation of Muslim MPs, led by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 23 with a charter of demands which included immediate implementation of the recommendations.
Various Christian organisations have met Khurshid in this regard.
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Though Khurshid managed to infuse life into the ministry, charges of sluggish implementation of welfare schemes flied thick and fast. The ministry recently invited the wrath of a Parliamentary committee for "under expenditure" of funds meant for minority welfare schemes, which refused to buy its argument that it was due to delay by the states.
In a significant decision, the ministry decided to include MPs, MLAs and MLCs also in the state and district level committees constituted for implementation of the Prime Minister's New 15-Point Programme.
To encourage independent monitoring of the schemes, the ministry will be appointing 150 national monitors across the country. It has already signed an MoU with National Productivity Council in this regard.
As the reports of these independent monitors will only give suggestions and punitive action may elude, there are doubts about the effectiveness of the venture.
The ministry began the process for Wakf Reform by taking up computerisation of its records with the help of National Informatics Centre (NIC). The scheme will be uniformly applicable across all the 29 State Waqf Boards and any other Wakf Board at a total cost of Rs 22.84 crore.
The scheme was envisaged after the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Wakf recommended computerization of the records of the State Wakf Boards and Central financial assistance to these Boards in its Ninth Report.
Moreover, the ministry is pursuing an amendment of the existing Wakf Management Act to revolutionise the Wakf system hoping to generate internal resources for taking up welfare schemes.
The bill for setting up Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) will be placed before Parliament after cabinet approves the inter-ministerial consultations.
EOC wants to ensure affirmative actions for disadvantaged groups in both public and private sector through implementing diversity index of employee profiles in institutions.
A draft Cabinet note along with the draft amendments has been referred to the Ministry of Law and Legislative Department for its views and vetting.
In this financial year, the ministry introduced a new scholarship scheme 'Maulana Abul Kalam Azad National Fellowship' for students from minority communities providing for integrated five-year fellowships to pursue higher studies such as M Phil and Ph D.
Three new schemes were also included in the Prime Minister’s New 15-Point Programme. They are National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), Integrated Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (IDSSMT) and Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG).
The ministry is now also looking after the scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women, which was earlier with the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
It plans to implement the scheme throughout the country with special focus on areas having substantial minority population.
The ministry has also approved district-wise plans for 76 Minority Concentrated Districts out of 90 that have been taken up under the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme, aimed at improving standards of life.
The government is also undertaking restructuring of the National Minority Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) to make it more effective. NMDFC disburses loans to minorities to encourage self employment.