Voicing concern over the re-emergence of communal tension in some parts of the country, Vice President Hamid Ansari today called for empowering and uplift minority communities.
Quoting the 12th Five Year Plan, Ansari said that despite being the largest minority in the country, Muslims lag behind on all human development "indices," and it may be too early to estimate the impact of government measures on their overall condition.
"The re-emergence of communal tensions in some parts of the country is a cause of concern since it threatens our social fabric," he said today at the inauguration of Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of city-based 'The New College'.
"It is essential that inclusive socio-economic development be accompanied by effective implementation of constitutional guarantees of the minorities," he said.
However, Ansari said it was not only the responsibility of government to uplift minorities but "all sections of the society have to take the responsibility including minorities themselves".
Calling for an urgent need to generate awareness of programmes and schemes at local level, he said, "Government has to better plan welfare schemes and programmes as well as ensure their effective delivery to the targeted population through efficient delivery systems, especially in education".
"In a democratic polity, the role of elected representatives at local, regional and national level becomes vital. Absence of development oriented leadership and poor Muslim representation in decision making bodies at all tiers of government makes the situation worse," Ansari said.
"This needs to be corrected. The electorate should seek greater accountability from their representatives," he said.
Government studies have shown that literacy rates among the Muslim community is "significantly" lower than among other communities, except for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Some of the facts make disturbing reading, he claimed.
"The literacy rate among Muslims in 2001 was 59.1 per cent compared to the national average of 64.8 per cent. This gap was greatest in urban areas", the Vice President said.
"We will have to facilitate an equitable share for minority communities in education, employment, economic activities and to ensure their upliftment", he said.
"Empowering minority communities and creating an enabling environment for strengthening the multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic character of our nation will have to be a collective endeavour," he added.
