The minority affairs ministry wanted use of the Public Premises Act, 1971, to remove unauthorised occupants from Waqf properties, but the law ministry, which is also under him, shot down the proposal on the ground that the Act is for summary evictions from "public premises" and not from the Waqf premises.
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.
"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."
He said these opinions could be incorporated in the ATR.
Faced with elections in Uttar Pradesh, home to a large Muslim population, the Centre has already announced that it will implement the Sachar report in toto.
The Bill to amend the Wakf Act, 1995, will make it mandatory for Waqf boards to register their properties with district collectors to ensure their actual valuation.
Seeking to make a distinction between the problems faced by dalits in India and those faced by minorities in all societies, Dr Singh said the Dalits faced a unique discrimination with Apartheid being the only parallel to untouchability.
The survey took the poverty line at Rs 356 per person per month in rural areas and at Rs 538 in urban areas for 2004-05.
Many leaders argued that as the elections got over, Muslims and their problems were forgotten. Their anti-BJP stance is beneficial only for the party opposing the BJP and not to Muslims, they pointed out
The committee found that Muslims had not been attempting for the civil services examinations in numbers proportionate to their share in the population.
Recognising that madrassas have played an important role in providing religious education, the committee said linking madrassas with a higher secondary school board would enable students to shift to mainstream education.
Announcing the measures, the government presented an action taken report in Parliament on the steps it proposed to take to implement the Sachar Committee's suggestions. The government, however, remained silent on the Sachar Committee's recommendation favouring reservation for the most backward in the 150-million strong community.
Government told the Rajya Sabha on Monday there was no proposal to sell the Dabhol power plant.
While the main opposition party, which lost power in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections after a six-year stint in office, remained unclear on the leadership issue, it remained upbeat for having found an 'emotive issue.'
Amid talk of mid-term polls, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party appear to have gone into election mode and have launched hectic efforts to get their acts together.
India Inc on Thursday pitched for lowering income tax burden on common man, increase in capital expenditure, and firm steps to contain food inflation in their nearly two-hour long interaction with finance minister Nirmala Shitharaman ahead of the Union Budget. During pre-Budget consultation with Sitharaman, the industry leaders and associations also urged the government to focus more on infrastructure development with a view to maintaining the economic growth momentum. The industry leaders also laid stress on boosting the MSME (micro, small, and medium enterprises) sector, considered a backbone of the Indian economy and main employment generator.
Stating that providing reservation was no solution to development concerns of Muslims, Najma Heptulla, who took charge as Minister for Minority Affairs, said the new government will ensure progress of all communities, with special stress on education facilities for minorities.
Paying back Narendra Modi in kind for his remarks of Himalayan arrogance, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today hit back at him saying, "Arrogance is dripping from every inch of his body."
'... The girl's parents would probably react in the same manner as the parents of the Hindu girl who marries a Muslim boy.' Minority Affairs Najma Heptulla, in an exclusive interview.
Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM, which is going to contest next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the promise of creating leadership among Muslims, has created unease in the political parties that so far considered the members of the minority community as their core "vote bank".
Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Narendra Modi, saying those who don't believe in secular values cannot grasp the spirit of patriotism, and will lead the country to destruction if they get power.
Everyone, it seems, has a question to ask the BJP's prime ministerial candidate these days. Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt asked some well-known Indians what they would like to ask Narendra Modi, to gauge what emotions he evokes in them.
Batting for minority rights, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday cautioned people against forces weakening the country's secular ethos and said communal harmony should not be disturbed over small, local incidents.
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.
The Congress, however, said state chiefs are free to take their decisions within the party's norms and constitution.
A delegation of Muslim leaders led by Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi during which she asked them to ensure that secular votes did not split in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
With an eye on assembly elections after severe drubbing in Lok Sabha polls, the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government on Wednesday approved 16 per cent reservation for Marathas and five per cent for Muslims in government jobs and education institutions.
'It is inconceivable that there are no gays working in Indian corporations but obviously, the subject remains taboo enough in the workplace for those of alternate sexual orientation to feel safer remaining in the closet,' notes Kanika Datta.
HDFC Bank is on a global search to find a successor to the founding-chief executive Aditya Puri, as he would turn 70 next year.
A fundraiser for the Aligarh Muslim University hosted in California saw keynote speakers talk about the plight of Indian Muslims and a way out.
He said that exclusion and discrimination including failure to provide security has to be corrected by the state.
Making no effort to conceal his prime ministerial ambitions, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections were "a matter of honour" for him.
Permissive communalism, as represented by the Sachar Committee report, cannot become the basis to counter the threat of majoritarianism, says D L Sheth.
While there is no denying that certain sections of the community deserve aid, the politics of reservation can be suicidal for India.
70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The new government has to make conscious efforts to rebuild social equality and bring the people together.
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.
I am not here to play negative politics in the name of Muslims, says the leader of yet another electoral front in Bihar.
'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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