A bill would soon be introduced in Parliament to make education up to the eighth standard compulsory, Union environment and forest minister Saifuddin Soz said yesterday.
Speaking at a felicitating function organised by the Indo-Arab league, Soz said illiteracy was the root cause for the backwardness of minorities in the country and the proposed bill will boost literacy.
The bill would also check the menace of child labour with strict penal provisions and help in increasing the literacy rate, paving the way for development, he said.
The minorities would benefit from the bill, he said.
Soz said the Islamic nations should realise that the Muslim community is an integral part of India.
Lamenting that certain forces were trying to create a wedge by asking the minorities to join the mainstream, he said the minorities are in the mainstream of secularism.
He asserted that coalition rule has come to stay in the country.
The coalition on the foundation of secular thought has proved to be successful and would work in the future, he said.
