The statements and actions of the Central government following the Sachar Committee Report gives the impression that Muslims can hope for a better future. This is important, given that nearly 15 per cent of country’s population has faced deprivation for the last 60 years. Now comes news that the ministry for minority affairs is trying to identify areas of Muslim concentration, probably as a prelude to introducing development schemes and educational initiatives in these areas. There are apprehensions, however, that these activities are driven by political compulsions — given the string of important elections looming on the horizon — rather than a genuine concern for the welfare of ordinary Muslims. Such apprehensions are not unfounded because there seems to be a total silence about what demands should be made and what issues should be taken up in the context of the Sachar Report. For instance, the Sachar Committee has recommended that areas of Muslim concentration should not be included in constituencies reserved for SCs but, according to available information, nobody apart from Asadullah Owaisi, an MP from Andhra Pradesh, has approached the Constituency Delimitation Commission in this regard. Nobody, for instance, knows what the minister for minority affairs, A.R. Antulay, has done in this context.The next commission of this kind will be set up only two decades later. So if the problems facing Muslims are not addressed seriously now, the community as a whole will remain in its present limbo. There may also be specific problems that raise their head. For instance, if no efforts are made to change the constituencies reserved for SCs, conflicts between Muslims and Dalits may arise. There will also be problems if some general constituencies are reserved for Muslims. To avoid these unpleasant developments, it is important that suitable instructions are immediately issued to the Delimitation Commission by the PMO. Similar urgency is required to be shown about amending the presidential order of 1951, according to which only Hindus, Sikhs and neo-Buddhists can be included among Scheduled Castes. It is contrary to Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution, and the amendment will be beneficial for Dalit Muslims.The Sachar Committee has made a detailed study of the 500,000 waqf properties and recommended effective steps to be taken about them on a priority basis. Most of the recommendations have to be dealt with by the government. In this connection the Sachar Committee has included a photocopy of a letter that Indira Gandhi, as prime minister, had written to state chief ministers in 1976 reminding them about the three proposals about waqf properties made way back in 1961. One, wherever possible waqf properties should be vacated and given back to the Waqf Board. Two, wherever expensive buildings have been constructed and it is not possible to vacate them, the state government should secure them on a contract by paying the market rent. Three, state governments should purchase them at the market price.Although over three decades have passed since this letter, state governments have done nothing. Now, what stops the PMO from issuing an executive order along the lines of Indira Gandhi’s letter? Has the department of personnel sent some proposal to the Public Service Commission about the special cadre? And what is the Muslim leadership doing about it? The implementation of the Sachar Committee Report demands that a high-power task force be constituted in the Planning Commission and entrusted with the responsibility of preparing new schemes for different Central ministries and state governments. Also, as recommended by the Sachar Committee, the Planning Commission should be instructed to set up a data bank. Similarly, what can be objectionable about setting up an equal opportunities commission along the lines of those in the US, UK and Australia?The Sachar Committee’s recommendations have to be comprehensively implemented because the tasks set out are not confined to the Centre or any particular ministry — it involves all the ministries, departments, financial institutions as well as the Planning Commission. Coordination and supervision of the entire work cannot be left to the ministry of minority affairs alone — all the more since this particular ministry and its minister have been accorded little importance.The implementation of this Report demands, in fact, a high-level committee consisting of socio-economic experts, politicians and bureaucrats, set up under the PM, to look into the implementation of the 15-point programme outlined as well as coordinate the work at the level of various ministries. A Minorities Advisory Council should also be constituted along the lines of National Advisory Council.If these steps are taken it will prove that the policy outlined, as well as the intentions of the people in power, are genuine.The writer is director, Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
