World | India
Government vows to go ahead with Muslim headcount
The government made it clear that it would go ahead with the Muslim headcount to ascertain the economic and educational status of the single largest minority group in the country and also said it did not favour such an headcount in the armed forces.
- The Asian Age
- Published: 00:00 February 23, 2006
New Delhi: The government made it clear that it would go ahead with the Muslim headcount to ascertain the economic and educational status of the single largest minority group in the country and also said it did not favour such an headcount in the armed forces.
While giving clarifications to queries on his statement on the appointment of the Justice Rajindra Sachar Committee to study the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community, Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in the Rajya Sabha: "The government is not apologetic about appointing a committee to study the social status of the Muslim community. But such a survey will not be conducted in the armed forces". They will not be included in the study at all, he added.
He said, "The armed forces are professional, apolitical, secular and the most disciplined force the country has today. We would not like to include armed forces in such a type of survey. But in the case of other departments and ministries such a study will continue. We do not recruit in the armed forces on the basis of caste, religion, creed or region," he said, adding that "we do not maintain data in armed forces based on such classifications."
The government would go ahead with the study to ascertain the economic and educational status of Muslims, the single largest minority group in the country, in other departments, he said.
Mukherjee said the government had mandated the Sachar Committee to undertake a study of minorities so that a database was prepared for possible government interventions for their uplift.
Mukherjee dismissed BJP allegations that the government was not looking at the welfare of other economically weaker sections saying the Mandal Commission and SC/ST Commissions had been constituted specifically for that.
He said the government has, since independence, made special arrangements for disadvantaged groups and a study was commissioned to look at the status of the largest minority section. The government will try its best for the betterment of all weaker sections, he said.
In his statement, the defence minister also said the high-level committee was mandated to obtain relevant information from departments and agencies of the Central and State Governments and also conduct an intensive survey on relative social, economic and educational status of the Muslims of India at state, regional and district levels to address the reasons for backwardness and to formulate appropriate policy to intervene as and when necessary.
He said the Navy provided some indicative statistics regarding civilian personnel in the Navy and some data was also provided by the Indian Air Force.
"No such information was provided by the Indian Army," he said. No survey has been conducted or is proposed to be conducted for the compilation of any other statistics than those maintained on the existing database of the armed forces, he said.
Earlier, BJP accused the UPA government of narrow-mindedness by surveying only Muslims.
Brinda Karat (CPM) said Muslims were discriminated in jobs, education and land ownership and BJP and Sangh Parivar are "afraid" of compilation of their socio-economic status. The Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal favoured a survey of Muslims in the armed forces.
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