National
consultation on Sachar Committee recommendations
New Delhi,
March 13 and 14, 2008
WHAT:
Bharatiya Muslim
Mahila Andolan, Indian Social Institute, ActionAid and 15 other
organisations from across the country will hold a two day
conference on strategies for implementing the Sachar Committee
recommendations. This national consultation follows discussions
over the last four months in states including Rajasthan, Uttar
Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Kashmir, Karnataka, West Bengal,
Delhi, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Maharashtra.
WHEN:
13th and 14th March, 10 am onwards
WHERE:
Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi
WHO: SPEAKERS
1) Prof
Babu Mathew, ActionAid country director
2) Parliamentarians
Ali Anwar, P V Abdul Wahab and Priya Dutt
3) Prof
Abu Saleh Sharif, Director, National Council for Applied
Economic Research
4) Prof
Kamal Mitra Chenoy,
professor in the school of
international studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New
Delhi
5) Dr
Razia Patel, President, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan
6) Kavita
Srivastava,
People's Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan
7) Gauhar
Raza, scientist and filmmaker
8) Prof
Imtiaz Ahmed, retired professor, JNU
9) Praful
Bidwai, leading journalist
10)
Seema Mustafa, Resident Editor,
Asian Age
11)
200 Muslim women and men from
across the country
WHY:
At 140 million,
Muslims are the largest minority in India.
In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appointed a high level
committee chaired by Justice Rajinder Sachar to prepare a report
on the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in
India. The report was released in Parliament in November 2006.
The
Committee underscored the acute socio-economic marginalization
of Muslims in India. The community has little
access to health, education
or state and central government jobs.
Muslims even lag behind people as downtrodden as Dalits who have
suffered generations of caste-based discrimination, according to
some social experts.
The Sachar committee
recommended several measures to improve the socio-economic
condition of Muslims. These proposals have been accepted by the
ruling United Progressive Alliance government. The government
has identified 90 districts and 338 towns for improving job
opportunities, civic amenities, access to credit and literacy
among Muslims. Also, ‘Equal Opportunity Commission’ and
‘diversity index’ are in the pipeline which promise state
incentives to employers who offer opportunities to Muslims. But
the fact of the matter is that there has been no follow up.
Civil society groups state
that there is a wide gap between talk and implementation.
"The National
Consultation aims to build a national consensus, which will
suggest strategies, ideas and plans to execute Sachar Committee
recommendations,” says Zakia Jowher of ActionAid.
“Muslims need
schools in their localities, especially girls. Parents want
women teachers to teach their daughters. Scholarship for higher
education need to be advertised and made available to a larger
number of Muslims. Also, bank credits need to be given to start
new businesses. Muslim women especially need loans to earn a
livelihood,” adds Jowher.
ENDS
