Bhopal, January 09: (Pervez Bari)Popular Front of India, (PFI), will launch a nationwide two-month long “National Campaign for Muslim Reservation” during February and March this year. The nationwide campaign will start with a grand public meeting at Pune in Maharashtra on January 31. A Parliament March will be held at New Delhi to mark the conclusion of the campaign.
According to a Press release handed over at the a Press conference addressed by O.M.A. Salam, Secretary PFI, the report submitted by the Prime Minister’s High Level Committee (Justice Rajindar Sachchar Committee) in November 2006 has identified the entire Muslim community as more backward than any Other Backward Communities. The committee concluded in the light of official facts and figures that Muslim presence in the education and government service is far below their proportion of population. The gap between Muslims and other communities increases as the level of education increases. Unemployment rates among Muslims are highest.
The Press release said the presence of Muslims is found to be only 3 per cent in the IAS, 1.8 per cent in the IFS and 4 per cent in the IPS. Muslim community has a representation of only 4.5 per cent in Indian Railways. Share of Muslims in security agencies is only around 4 per cent. The situation in different states is also not different. No state has Muslim representation in government jobs as equal to their population strength, the Press release pointed out.
It is in this context, Salam said, that the recommendations of the recently submitted Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission Report has become significant. “If Sachchar report rightly diagnosed the issue, Mishra report contains the right prescription”, Salam reportedly remarked.
The Mishra Commission has earmarked 15 per cent of government jobs and seats in educational institutions for minorities, out of which 10 per cent exclusively for the Muslim Community. As an alternate suggestion, it has earmarked 8.4 per cent out of existing OBC quota of 27 per cent for minorities, of which 6 per cent exclusively for Muslim OBCs.
The Report was tabled in the Parliament without the accompanying action taken statement (ATR). Nor the Central Government has so far made any commitment regarding the implementation of recommendations contained in the report, the Press Release stated.
It was in this context, Salam reportedly said, that Popular Front of India has decided to hold a National Campaign for Muslim Reservation during February and March. It is planned to have a series of public awareness programmes such as pamphlets, posters, exhibitions, street meetings, vehicle caravans, rallies, seminars, street plays and cultural shows in various states during the campaign period.
Also present in the Press Conference were Ya Mohideen, Member, National Executive Council, Popular Front, and Sadiq Qureshi, Convenor, Maharashtra State Popular Front. (pervezbari@eth.net)