He brought to the fore the socio-economic and educational conditions of the Muslim community.
'He was the best court craftsman that I have ever seen who could modulate his arguments in accordance with the judge and the mood.'
'The Haj subsidy is a trap used by politicians to curry Muslim votes,' says Abusaleh Shariff, member, Rajinder Sachar Committee.
Handing a warning to the United Progressive Alliance, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said the Centre should immediately implement the Sachhar Committee recommendations for the welfare of Muslims, failing which it will have to go out of power.
A group of noted social activists, writers, filmmakers, journalists, advocates and retired army officials have come up with an online petition seeking support to endorse the name of retired Justice Rajinder Sachar for the post of President of India.
Policies should help Muslims cross the school threshold, says Rakesh Basant, IIM-A professor and author of a study on Indian Muslims
In this interview with rediff.com, member-secretary of the Rajinder Sachar Committee on the status of Muslims, Abusaleh Shariff explains the trend, its reasons and ways to reverse it.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee has pulled up the government for mere lip service to the recommendations of the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee it had itself constituted in 2005 to study the status of Muslims in India.
The Apex court had in its order slammed the Chhattisgarh government for using tribals as Special Police Officers in its Salwa Judum counter-insurgency operation against the Maoists. It also asked the central government to ensure that its finances are not used for funding SPOs.
The Sachar Committee report is not sacrosanct like the Quran and has to be looked at with a critical eye, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said. "The Sachar Committee report is not Quran. It could be wrong and its recommendations and observations need to be looked at with a critical eye. The recommendations should not be seen as a special thing given to Muslims," he said. The Rajinder Sachar Committee was appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Eighty-seven-year-old Sachar argued that he had come to the venue with one more person only and so his arrest under Section 144 was illegal.
The report was tabled by Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay.
However, the panel was silent on the issue of reservations for Muslims.
The letter was delivered to Dr Singh by a Shiv Sena delegation headed by Sena's Executive President Udhav Thackeray at the prime minister's South block office.
'When there exists a feeling within a minority - either at the higher or lower levels - that there is discrimination, then steps must be taken to remove that feeling, that perception,' says former judge Rajinder Sachar.
Mayor Bill White honoured the duo with special proclamation certificates at the 17th annual convention of the American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin.
"Because Muslims are part and parcel of India, if members of the community today lag behind the rest of the people in India, then logically the country would lag behind, too."
'The armed forces cannot be an exception to the concept of citizenship in a multi-ethnic society. Nor can they demand to be shielded from scrutiny just because they perform a role in India's defence.'
'Amritpal is the creation of journalists and the inaction of the government in Punjab.'
It is unusual in democratic countries two decades into the 21st century for laws to become regressive instead of progressive. But that is clearly what is happening in India today and more of this is ahead, asserts Aakar Patel.
Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Monday promised reservations to Muslims as well as Marathas, implementation of Rajinder Sachar committee report, and support for `statehood to Andaman and Nicobar' in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, released in Mumbai.
Stoking controversy, Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha candidate and one of the members of Legislative Assembly booked in Muzaffarnagar riots cases Hukum Singh said on Thursday he would oppose riot refugees from voting in his constituency Kairana as they were living "illegally" on government land.
'It is not the duty of government to protect minority religions or promote it.'
The Bombay High Court on Friday stayed implementation of the controversial decision of the erstwhile Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra to provide reservation to Marathas in government jobs and educational institutions announced ahead of the state assembly election.
'Electricity, better roads and uninterrupted water supply are problems for everyone in India, not Muslims alone.' 'Regional parties are solving these problems much better. And for that reason, Muslims favour regional parties.'
'Putting Yogi Adityanath in the CM's seat two years before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls is something to be read carefully.' 'Opposition parties would be dishonest themselves and unfair to secular people if they failed to unite and work as a single force to defeat the BJP.'
With its refusal to accept the modern social values, the Indian Muslim community is going down the slope of progress, says Najid Hussain.
'Bangladeshi Muslims want to increase their population in India.' 'They have made colonies in India.' 'Rohingyas are doing the same.' 'This has to stop.'
The families of the Muslim youth from Hashimpura who were shot dead 28 years ago had some committed supporters in their long struggle for justice.
'Is Rahul turning the Congress' covert soft-Hindutva support into overt support now?' 'And if so, following in the BJP's footsteps, is the Congress going to abandon Indian Muslims and Muslim causes altogether?' asks Dr Najid Hussain whose father-in-law former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the Gujarat riots.
The roots of the cancellation of 2G telecom spectrum licences and coal blocks lie in two non-profit organisations - Common Cause and CPIL.
'Muslims are depressed and disillusioned.' 'The safety valve is that we still have a multicultural mosaic in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.'
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