New Delhi, December 27
Underlining the need to reduce social and economic inequalities without disturbing the process of growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the UPA government was committed to redress imbalances and eradicate inequities so that everyone could have an equal share in the growth of the country.
Speaking after inaugurating the Dalit-Minority International Conference here today, the Prime Minister said there was a need to “come up with universally acceptable policies that are not viewed as a zero-sum game, but as win-win solutions through which everyone is better off and no one is worse off.”
Dr Singh said while absolute poverty might be reduced by growth, inequality could get sharpened which could be socially and politically destabilising.
“Hence, we have to take steps that reduce social and economic inequalities, without hurting the process of growth and without reducing the incentives for individual enterprise and creativity,”
Referring to the findings of the Sachar Committee, the Prime Minister said some minorities, especially the Muslim Community in certain parts of our country, had not got an equal share of the fruits of development.
“It is incumbent upon any democratically elected government to redress such imbalances and eradicate such inequities. I assure you, our Government is indeed committed to doing this,” Dr Singh asserted.
The Prime Minister assured that the problems of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and minorities would get the attention they deserved and practical ways of redressing the inequalities would be found.
Former Prime Ministers V.P. Singh and Inder Kumar Gujral, Union Cabinet Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan, Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha A. Rahman Khan were among others present at the conference.
Administrative measures taken by the government to develop the capabilities of weaker groups were not the end-all and be-all of positive action against social discrimination and disparities, Dr Singh said, adding: “The battle for social equality has to be waged and won in the minds of our people.”
“We need a change in
mindset. This requires a wider, broad-based social, political and cultural movement against all forms of discrimination and injustice prevalent in our society,” he said asserting that a conference like this should pay more attention to finding solutions to a problem rather than merely harping on the problem.
Stating that every social and religious group could claim to be a minority somewhere or the other, the Prime Minister said: “Hence, the social, political and economic principles that modern, democratic societies adopt in dealing with the specific problems of minorities should
ideally be based on certain universal principles.”
“What are these universal principles, in my view these beliefs are defined by the idea of equality before law, the universal application of the rule of law, commitment to basic fundamental rights, and the right of minority groups to protect, preserve and promote the values cherished by such groups,” he said.
Pointing that some minorities in India like the Jains and the Sikhs have fared relatively well from the process of social and economic development, the Prime Minister said: “However, other minorities, especially the Muslim community in certain parts of our country, have not had an equal share of the fruits of development.”
