By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Jaipur: A National Conference on the topic of “7 Years After Sachar” is being organised here on June 2 at Birla auditorium from 10.00 a.m. onwards.
Maulana Mohammad Fazlurrahim Mujaddidi, chairman of SEE (Strive for Eminence & Empowerment) will deliver the key note address at the National Conference. The dignitaries who have given consent to participate in the conference include: Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid; Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal; Dr. (Mrs.) Syeda Hameed, Member of Planning Commission of India; Dr. (Mrs.) Rita Bahuguna Joshi, ex-president Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, (UPCC); Justice M.S.A. Siddiqui, chairman, NCMEI; Janab Sahibzada Aimududdin Khan alias Duru Mian, Minister for Health, Rajasthan; Brij Kishore Sharma, Education Minster, Rajasthan.
Maulana Mujaddidi, who is also Rector of Jaipur-based Jamea-tul-Hidaya, said that after the 60 years of Independence, huge socio-economic gaps are visible among different regions, castes and communities. The socio-economic development policy ignored the Muslims most, while the historically deprived SCs/STs under constitutional safeguard were on the highest priority. The system forced the Muslims to concentrate more on sentimental issues, leaving the socio-economic development aside, while the others mainly concentrated on it. The net result of this complex situation was clearly reflected in Sachar Committee, Justice Rangnath Mishra Commission and other reports. The Muslims are now below the SCs strata and rubbing their shoulders to maintain socio-economic parameters with STs.
The UPA Govt. in its first stint after the Sachar Committee report promulgated the PM’s New 15-Point Program for the educational and economic upliftment of Muslims. The 11th FYP, for the first time, made a concerted effort to reverse some of the trends that plagued the minorities in general and Muslims in particular. These positive policy instruments showed desirable results in a short period of time, and raised the expectations of various communities across the board. However, there were teething problems in implementation and it is expected that the stumbling blocks and flaws experienced in this Plan would be fully taken care of, so that they may not be replicated in the ongoing Five Year Plan, the Maulana opined.
Meanwhile, a Concept Note on the topic of the conference said that the Sachar Committee’s report is an extremely valuable document on the Social, Economic and Educational status of Indian Muslims for two reasons.
Firstly its findings are a shocking testimony to six decades of institutional neglect and bias that has left the country’s Muslims far behind other Socio-Religious Communities (SRCs) in the areas of education, employment, access to credit, access to social and physical infrastructure and political representation. Thus, the report thoroughly exposes the Sangh Parivar’s baseless propaganda of “Muslim appeasement”.
Secondly, the recommendations contain the seeds of a major socio-economic transformation of 15 crores Indian Muslims. If the recommendations were to be honestly implemented, it can bring dramatic changes in the life of Muslims just as action on the recommendations of the mandal Commission did for the OBCs. (pervezbari@eth.net)