Panel seeks minority report card
The letter has been sent out to 19 ministries supposed to implement different minority advancement programmes. These include the ministry of minority affairs, the ministry of labour and employment and the ministry of human resource development, among others.
The letter, signed by commission chairperson Mohd Shafi Qureshi, records instances wherein funds earmarked by the government for several minority schemes were either under-utilised or not utilised at all and surrendered to the government, depriving the target populations of benefits.
“The commission feels that there is an urgent need to streamline the system and sensitise the implementing official machinery and the clientele for whom the schemes are meant so that maximum population can benefit and participate in nation building,” the NCM chairperson has written.
Citing the necessity of time-bound and effective completion of minority welfare programmes, the commission has sought from government ministries/departments and state governments quarterly reports on various minority related schemes being implemented by them.
The commission, however, admitted that few ministries and state government had bothered to acknowledge receipt of its letter in this matter of urgent national importance.
“We have in the past received several complaints of complete lack of awareness about pre and post-matric scholarship schemes meant for minorities. Very often the forms of such schemes are not available where they should be. If forms are available, officers on duty often send the beneficiaries back saying they know nothing about the scheme,” commission chairperson said, citing recent cases from Kanpur, where several students of the minority community complained of non-receipt of scholarship forms.
Commission chairperson has now asked the ministry of minority affairs for complete detail of the progress on the front of socio-economic minority schemes. “We need to know what funds have been released to the states for the stated objectives and how many of them have been actually used. The monitoring is a must to inspire confidence among minorities. We must understand that these times are the most trying of all for minorities in India,” Qureishi told The Tribune.
The commission has, meanwhile, instructed the government to submit the progress report in a stated format. The idea is to judge these schemes on physical and financial parameters and suggest to the government measures to accelerate them to achieve the desired results within a stipulated time frame and make the schemes client friendly.
Source: Tribune India,
Date:Thursday, August 14, 2008 |
