Minority welfare remains on back burner

During the last 10 years of Congress led UPA rule, development of Muslims has been on the back burner. I would say that the Congress led UPA has been interested in development of few ‘Muslim Leaders’ rather than looking at the larger interests of the community. 

There are some very interesting insights provided by economist and chief scholar at the US-India Policy Institute Abusaleh Shariff in a paper that presented at a seminar in Delhi in 2013 titled “Six Years After Sachar: A Review of Inclusive Policies in India.” 

This paper informs you that the figures paint dismal picture of progress of Muslims during the UPA regime. During the UPA rule, the rate of growth of education at all levels had remained the lowest for Muslims between 2004-05 and 2009-10. 

Matriculation-level enrolment was the least among both the OBC and general category Muslims in both rural and urban areas, and lower than the enrolment for the SCs and the Scheduled Tribes (STs). At higher levels of education, the distribution was even more skewed.

Muslims had almost no presence in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and they continued to be excluded from formal development credit regimes despite specific guidelines and circulars from the Reserve Bank of India.

The much hyped Minority Affairs Ministry also did poorly. Allocations for the much-publicised Minority Concentration Districts [MCDs] aggregated to a total of Rs 37,800 crore until March 2011. “It was shocking to note that only Rs. 856 crore [which is 22.8 per cent of central allocation] had reached the districts. Much lower amount was found to have been taken to the grassroots…”

“The Minority Concentration Districts [MCDs] schemes have hit hurdles which appear insurmountable! Close to the end of the 11th Plan period, just about 3.46 per cent of all allocated funds have reached the intended beneficiaries either at the level of individual or communities or geographic areas.”

The hollow claims of the UPA government about welfare of the minorities were exposed by the report of Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment presented in May 2013 in the parliament. The report clearly mentioned that the Minority affairs ministry failed to utilise one third of its 2012-13 budget amounting to Rs. 969.38 crore.

This money had to be surrendered ultimately. Out of the total budgetary allocation of Rs. 3135 crore under Plan during the year 2012-13 the actual expenditure incurred by the Ministry was only Rs. 2165.62 crore (69.08%). Not even a single rupee was spent on five major schemes which were announced in year 2012-13 for minorities.

These schemes which remained non-starter were Strengthening of State Waqf Boards, interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies scheme for the students belonging to minority communities, scheme for containing population decline of small minority community, support for students clearing prelims conducted by UPSC/SSC, State Public Service Commission (PSC) etc. and skill development Initiatives.

The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report (66th round) shows how Muslims have lagged behind during UPA rule. The survey has taken into account period from 2004-2010.

According to the NSSO report, a vast majority of Muslims in both rural and urban areas are not part of the organized workforce compared to other religious groups. According to the NSSO data Muslims have still to mainly engage in self-employment and as rural labour.

This shows that the government schemes have not benefited them much in this regard. In cities and towns, Muslims are at the bottom of the ladder in the ‘regular wage/salaried’ category. According to the NSSO data in villages, Muslims (41%) are the largest group employed as rural labour.

The poor state of affairs among Muslims is also reflected in low per capita spending compared to other religious groups. The MPCE serves as a proxy for income and is usually taken to reflect the living standard of a family.

The household monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) is the lowest among Muslims. Muslim households were spending an average Rs 980 per month (Rs 1,272 in urban areas and Rs 833 in rural areas).

Blog Link : http://www.newsroompost.com/muslims-welfare-remained-back-burner-upa-rule/

In stooping to conquer, AAP destroyed the dignity of the CM’s office

Forty-eight days of chaos has come to an end with the resignation of the AAP government. Due to the antics of Arvind Kejriwal, the office of the Chief Minister of Delhi has lost its dignity. Any Chief Minister who takes over this office in time to come will have to first restore the dignity of this office. 

What we also need to ensure now is that the political discourse should not stoop down further. While being in government AAP leaders have used abusive language persistently to attack their political opponents. However, with the AAP being out of the government it is time to restore the dignity of the political discourse. You can disagree with your opponent but you can’t be abusive.

However, the AAP’s mantra has always been that “If you don’t follow what I say then AAP will abuse you, threaten you and even physically assault you.” If this is not Maoism, then what else is? We have all witnessed this happening over the last month and a half in the city. 

I think it is also time to call off Mr Kejriwal’s bluff on the issue of corruption. In fact his stand on some critical developments when it came to curbing corruption reiterates the fact that the AAP is the ‘B’ team of the Congress, and all that it can do to protect the corrupt Congress leaders was done by Kejriwal.

Let us look at his stand on two important developments — the CWG scam and the Lokayukta bill in Uttarakhand. When the Congress government in Uttarakhand was dumping the model Lokayukta bill recently why did Kejriwal keep quiet?

Incidentally Kejriwal had praised this bill enacted by the BJP govt in Uttarakhand. In November 2011, Kejriwal along with Prashant Bhushan held a press conference in Delhi, and here is what Kejriwal said about the Lokayukta bill brought by the BJP in Uttarakhanda: “We believe this is a great step forward in the people’s movement to tackle corruption.”

Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan had termed this bill “cent per cent identical” to the Janlokpal bill suggested by Anna Hazare.

In 2014 January, when Kejriwal was Chief Minister of Delhi, the Congress government in Uttarakhand was dumping this ‘model Lokayukta bill’ brought by the BJP. And what was Kejriwal doing? Why did he have selective amnesia? He just kept quiet! Not even a single official word or statement was issued by the AAP or any of its leaders questioning Congress’ move.

Ironically, in November 2011, Kejriwal had said and I quote, “The bill formulated by the Uttarakhand government has to be now approved by the Centre. So, it now remains to be seen if the Centre gives the approval or not and if it does, then the question is when?

On one hand, the central government has not yet passed the Jan Lokpal bill, and on the other hand if it also does not approve the Uttarakhand Bill, it will be a very negative thing.

Why did Kejriwal suddenly change his stand? Because he was taking support from the Congress in Delhi. How could he have dared to go against the Congress which helped him to form the government? That can be the only plausible explanation for the silence of AAP on the “Lokayukta bill” episode of Uttarakhand.

Secondly, the Anti-Corruption Branch of the Delhi government could not name former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in an FIR filed in the CWG scam when the evidence is quite clear. Arvind Kejriwal himself had a 370 page chargesheet against her. Where did this chargesheet go? Why no FIR against Sheila?

There can be only one reason for this — the AAP was working hand in glove with the Congress. So it is clear that Kejriwal’s doublespeak on the issue of corruption has now established this fact beyond doubt that his party is the ‘B’ team of the Congress and his stance on corruption is a ‘fake’ one.

Blog Link : http://www.newsroompost.com/stooping-conquer-aap-destroyed-dignity-cms-office/

Hypocrisy thy name is AAP

The latest scene in the theatre of the absurd staged by Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) proves once again that this is a party of hypocrites. Here is a government in Delhi which has no sense of purpose and wears its non-performance on its sleeve!