|
|
|
|
|
on record Aditi Tandon talks to Wajahat Habibullah Chairman, National Commission for Minorities Sixtyseven-year-old Wajahat Habibullah has handled several sensitive assignments in his long administrative career spanning 44 years. A J&K cadre IAS officer, he served the difficult border state in various capacities between 1968 and 1982 and authored significant works on ills afflicting the Valley. As Joint Secretary in the PMO during Indira Gandhi’s time, he handled her famous poverty alleviation programmes and later assisted the transition of functioning to Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. |
|
|
Wordsmith whose heart beats for music Harihar swarup writes about Amit Chaudhuri Winner of Infosys Prize Winner of the Infosys Science Foundation's Infosys Prize 2012, Amit Chaudhuri is one of the most celebrated Indian writers in English. In the gloriously crowded world of modern Indian fiction, he stands out as a master craftsman who, with executive wit and grace, can depict a rapidly changing India in a single life and an entire life in a single detail.
good news
|
|
‘Quota not the best way out’ Aditi Tandon talks to Wajahat Habibullah Chairman, National Commission for Minorities
What are the challenges confronting the minorities listed under the National Minorities Commission Act? Discrimination is the common challenge being faced by all. But certain problems are specific to certain minorities. Of late there has been a trend to blame Muslims for involvement in terror attacks. Such ill-considered announcements have led to a deep sense of insecurity among the Muslims. Christians are concerned over people having to lose their SC status after converting to the religion. The Sikhs continue to face displacement on account of the 1984 riots. Their rehabilitation is still not complete. The Buddhists are fighting for their rightful role in the management of their holy shrine, Bodh Gaya (Bihar), and the Parsis are facing decimation as a population. They are down to 60,000. What is the status of Sikh rehabilitation? The task of resettlement of Sikhs who suffered in the riots is incomplete. There is anguish in the community over the lingering cases against Congress leaders allegedly involved in the riots. The commission has in particular received a number of complaints from Sikhs settled in Haryana, where there is no separate Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee for the management of gurdwaras. Thousands of Sikhs who left their homes in Haryana have not been able to return. In 2011, the state set up a commission to look into the matter, but it is still to revert. What is your view on quotas in Central Government job promotions for SC and ST and 4.5 per cent for the minorities? Personally, I don’t think reservation is the best way to serve the interests of communities. If you grant reservations to some, you must grant reservations to others as well. I don’t understand how a Hindu cobbler is less disadvantaged than a Muslim cobbler. Moreover, there is little evidence that people who got jobs under quota worked to advance the interests of their communities. As opposed to reservation, I would prefer affirmative action where people appreciate the backwardness of others and help them progress. As a commission, however, we don’t propose to interfere with what the government is doing. The PM’s 15-point programme for minorities is not working as well as it should. That’s true. We don’t think the benefits are flowing to minorities to the extent needed. Most of the minorities are not aware of these programmes. We are trying to impress upon states to create minority commissions to monitor the programmes. Many states don’t have such commissions. At the Central level, we are seeking a bigger role in monitoring of the programme. The Minority Affairs Ministry evaluates it, but as a commission, we would also like to hold concurrent evaluations to document impact. The concept of minority concentration districts has also failed. We have realised that the idea of minority concentration districts is not very effective. The funds being earmarked for these districts (a district with 25 per cent minority population) are not going to the intended beneficiaries and are actually going to the others. We have recommended to the Planning Commission to make a block the unit of population and include under the programme towns with 25 per cent of more minority population. The panel has agreed to the proposal for the 12th Plan. Most states don’t have minority commissions. In J&K the demand has been pending for decades. We have asked every state repeatedly to set up a commission or at least, a minority advisory body. In J&K, a draft Bill in this regard has been pending because they are not obliged to follow a Central legislation. The minorities, especially the Kashmiri pundits, are not feeling secure enough to return. The state must promise that the minorities won’t be targeted and should establish a commission soon. Sikhs and Hindus in J&K are minorities and must be listed as such. The minority discourse in India is somehow limited to the Muslims. The others feel left out. That’s because the Muslims are the largest minorities — 12.4 per cent of the population, followed by the Christians who account for around 2 per cent. The Planning Commission’s human development report has placed Muslims behind SCs and STs in terms of backwardness. Is the Muslim community to blame for part of the problem? Partly yes, but the government has not gone out of its way to help Muslims. The Sachar Committee had made several recommendations for their welfare. Only the one regarding free scholarships has been truly met. The proposed administrative cadre for wakfs has not been established nor has the equal opportunities commission. The Muslims are keen to introduce computer education and English in madarsas, but the challenge is to set up schools in villages where Muslims girls and women can come out and study. Even rural Muslims want their women to be educated, even though they still want them to practise purdah. |
|
profile
He is also an acclaimed Indian classical musician, and an internationally recognised singer and composer of Indo-Western music. His project in experimental music, bringing together raga, jazz and disco, is called “This is Not Fusion, and has been performed worldwide. He is the first Indian to be included in the panel for the Man Booker International Prize 2009. Born in Calcutta and brought up in Bombay, 50-year-old Amit studied at University College, London, before completing a doctorate on the verse of DH Lawrence at Oxford in 1993. He has written five novels, of which “A Strange and Sublime Address” (1991) won the Betty Trask Award and Commonwealth Writers' Prize while “A New World” (2000) received the Los Angles Times Book Prize, and, most recently “The Immortals”, his first novel in nine years. “The Immortals” tells the story of three Indian musicians; a mother, her son and their guru, who is a classical music teacher. Set in Bombay during the 1970s, the novel traces two families separated by status and circumstance, yet inextricably connected through the bond of music. Amit interweaves art and relationships, meditating on the conflict between aesthetic and commercial values in India transformed by globalisation. When Amit was 12, he began to learn how to play the guitar, gradually moving to rock and the blues. At 15, he took to classical music and started taking lessons in Indian vocal music. His parents had lost all their assets during the Partition. In 1983, Amit left Bombay for a degree in English at University College. At first, he stayed at the International Student House, and was a poetic oddity among students studying accountancy and management. Spending most of his time singing, he felt inhibited, and paranoid about being overheard. “People are more aware of one another in England. They are focused on others in a seemingly detached and abstract way. This was very different from India”, he said. Amit's daughter was born in 1988 and he published another novel, “Freedom Song”. Set in the winter of 1992, with tensions rising between Hindus and Muslims in Calcutta, the novel follows the stories of two Hindu families. His family moved back to India in the late 1990s, choosing Calcutta as their home. |
||
|
good news
It’s nothing short of a miracle for Anjali's parents that their little girl, born deaf and mute, is now able to communicate and respond to her creative instincts. Born to labourer-parents at a slum inside Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Anjali, now five, caught the attention of a group of youngsters who wanted to make a difference to slum-dwellers and their children. And they did. Following therapy, Anjali can communicate and attends classes held by the group. Called Unnoticed, the group comprises university students as well as the alumni and has been working hard for the past five years to provide basic education and other facilities to these children who often go unnoticed in the din of a metropolis in the fast lane. “There are things that nag your conscience till you do something about it. Studying in this university, enjoying its beautiful environs and at the same time seeing these children being denied the basic right to education was one such thing. It made us pause and take notice. That's how Unnoticed was born. Their parents build infrastructure for our education, this is the least we could do,” says Yagya, a core team member. Every year, Unnoticed teaches a batch of over 70 children (mostly five to 16-year-olds). It arranges for funds on its own and some members contribute from their own pocket for uniforms, shoes, stationery and woollens for the children. Some foreign students also support the group. The roadblocks The endeavour has not been without difficulties. At one time, the group was denied space to hold classes. Now, it conducts five classes a day and has been allotted permanent space. “Most children did not know how to hold a pen. We focused on basic teaching and roped in student volunteers. Later, we got them admitted to nearby municipal schools. We hired a teacher to help them and a bus to take them to school. Most of them had never been vaccinated. We held a vaccination drive with the help of some doctors,” says Sanjay Dharia, a founder member. “The medical centre at the university is only for students. In the absence of any health facility, we have to rush ailing children to AIIMS or Safdarjung Hospital,” he says. “Since these children were talented, we began to diversify our activities. Theatre workshops, movie screenings and taking the children on recreational trips became a part of our schedule,” Yagya says. There are three major slums on the campus, with over 100 families each. The dwellers are dogged by poor living conditions. No facility is being provided by contractors even though labour laws under the State Social Welfare Board make them mandatory. They continue to live in squalor. In harsh winter, women, children and the elderly are forced to bathe in the open, and if they complain, contractors snap back, saying they are free to leave. The contractors, however, say they have their reasons. If facilities are provided, the workers refuse to move even after the work finishes. Gaining trust The group claims contractors threatened labourers against sending their children to classes and interacting with students. The labourers, however, learnt not to pay any heed. “We trust the students. Since these classes are held near our basti, we are happy to let them go and study,” says Banwari, a mason. The group got permanent space after its efforts drew the attention of the university administration. The group is holding talks with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to better the lot of the children and the JNU is conducting a survey on the living conditions of these families to submit it to the government. The group was aware it would not be able to change the system overnight, but it made a start and is sharing what is precious to them as students — knowledge. Dr Sucharita Sen, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, says: “By next semester, we hope to arrange for some help for these families. We are working towards a model that will award course credit for students involved with the group. The group will also feature on the JNU website soon. It is a commendable effort. It's not just the underprivileged who are benefiting, but also the students who are getting to see the crude realities of our society.” |
||
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
S
Winner
The right measure of anger has built up in response to the gangrape. The media needs to sustain relentless pressure on the case. We assure the victim a job offer 
We live in the best five star hotels of the world but I'll be equally comfortable in any Army cantt. Telling my friends my dad was in the Army was like telling them he is the second richest man in the world.
What kind of goodwill are we creating by playing cricket matches after Malik's visit? Our Home Minister has shown weakness by not responding to him in kind. If he used hard words, Shinde should've also done so.
This is the Vidhan Sabha, not pind di satth (village square). It doesn't behove us to behave like this. The proceedings of the House have to be taken seriously by all.
I don't think about getting married. I was close to getting married a long time ago, but it didn't happen. It's jinxed. I hope this jinx continues. I'm very comfortable in my own space.