Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has reiterated the demand following the Delhi Minorities Commission’s latest report on negligible representation of minorities in Delhi govt. departments.
Mumtaz Alam, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, Feb 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s slogan Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas cannot be implemented on the ground in letter and spirit without a robust statutory mechanism to prevent deep-rooted discrimination and ensure equal opportunities to all. In the wake of the latest report of Delhi Minorities Commission on actual representation of minorities in government departments, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has demanded the BJP-led NDA government of PM Modi to set up Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) whose draft was approved by the Cabinet of Congress-led UPA government in Feb 2014.
In its annual report 2015-16, the Delhi Minorities Commission has revealed that the representation of minorities is very small in almost all departments of Delhi. For example, in Delhi Tourism & Transportation department, there are 741 employees against the sanctioned posts of 1004. Presently, there are only 32 employees from minority communities. In the Delhi Metro, there are currently 80,683 staffers – only 282 of them are from minority communities.
Departments
Posts Sanctioned
Present Strength
Minority Community
SC/ST/OBC
82
65
1
Training (UTCS)
61
48
3
Food Safety
189
92
5
Delhi Tourism & Transportation
1004
741
32
Public Grievances
35
–
4
Dictt. Of Audit
11
–
0
Dictt. Of General of Home Guards
110
–
6
Delhi Police
84536
77397
2993
Delhi Fire Service
1843
–
21
DDA
12767
6031
295
DMRC
80683
282
Source: Annual Report 2015-16 of Delhi Minorities Commission
Commenting on the report, Nusrat Ali, Vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind said the negligible presence of minorities is not only in Delhi government departments but in every field in every state across the country.
“This (imbalance) is not just true for Delhi but it is fact that at ground level across the country, the representation of minorities is very less in every field from politics to education and other areas,” said Jamaat leader and stressed that Equal Opportunities Commission, a recommendation made by the Sachar Committee in 2006, could be a remedy.
Nusrat Ali (3rd from left), Vice President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, along with Syed Jalaluddin Umari (2nd), President, Mohammad Salim Engineer (1st), Secretary General and Mohammad Ahmed (Secretary) at press conference on 4th Feb 2017 in New Delhi.
“The Sachar Committee recommended that an Equal Opportunity Commission should be formed. So that minorities get representation in various departments according to their population. We have also been demanding for this commission since then,” said Ali while interacting with media here on Saturday.
Equal Opportunities Commission was approved by Congress-led UPA in 2014
On 20th Feb 2014, couple of months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress-led UPA government of Dr Manmohan Singh cleared a proposal for setting up EOC as a statutory body to check discrimination of minority communities in jobs and education. The Union Cabinet gave its nod for EOC and a draft bill to make it a statutory body was prepared. However, it could not be presented in the Parliament and the regime was dethroned by BJP in May 2014 elections.
The mandate of EOC was to ensure that no minority community is discriminated against on religious grounds and people from minority communities find adequate representation in government employment and educational institutions.
Jamaat demanded that the bill should be presented in the Parliament and passed, and only then minorities will be able to get their share.
“In the last period of UPA government, the draft was also prepared and it was about to be presented in the parliament but it could not be. Though we can’t say anything about the present government – whether it will do it or not – this Equal Opportunities Commission should be formed and its draft should be presented in the parliament and passed. And then it will be implemented at state level and country level. Then only the Muslims and other religious minorities will be able to get their share,” said Jamaat Vice President Nusrat Ali.
