Union Law and Minorities Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said a National Wakf Development Corporation will be constituted to improve the financial condition and smooth running of Wakf Boards.
There is a thinking in the Congress party that some of the ministers should be made to step down in the wake of the Congress's disastrous performance in the recent assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and the challenge of three other assembly elections in the coming eight months. This points to a comprehensive party-government overhaul eventually. However, no one was willing to say when
The government is considering allocation of quota to minorities within the existing 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Castes in central services, Minority Affairs minister Salman Khurshid said on Friday.
The first batch of 900 pilgrims on Thursday left for Jeddah in three flights from the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi to attend the annual Haj pilgrimage.
Terming the spat between Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as "part of democracy", Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Friday said the Congress leader's movement has "energised" the functioning of democracy.
The Election Commission on Wednesday put a lid on the standoff with Law and Minorities Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid after he expressed regrets over his "defiance" of the poll body over his remarks on subquota for minorities in government jobs in Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to write to state governments to vacate Wakf properties occupied by them, Minorities Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Friday.
Union Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who has been elevated to Cabinet rank in Wednesday's reshuffle, had worked on many a party and governmental positions in the past. Khurshid, who is a Member of Parliament from Farrukhabad parliamentary constituency, had in the past served as junior minister of commerce and minister of state for eternal afairs during the 10th Lok Sabha (1991-96). Between 1996 and 2009,
Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Monday his ministry looked at implementing the Sachar committee recommendations as its top priority despite the fact that there were some "flaws" in the report.
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.
"There have been regular complaints of illegal encroachment and sale of Wakf properties the country wide. Hence, we tried to amend some provisions of the existing Wakf Act 1995. Now questions are being raised as why Wakf properties is being registered. This is an age in which even births and deaths are being registered. I fail to understand why should there be any objection to registration of Wakf properties," Khurshid said in New Delhi.
On the eve of the maiden meeting of the 10-member joint committee on Saturday to draft the Lokpal bill, government on Friday said it has an open mind on the issue.
The resolution of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind asking Muslims not to recite 'Vande Mataram' is "unacceptable" and will be "counter-productive", said Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
Muslims' enrolment at secondary level of education is less than that of the scheduled castes, a government survey has indicated.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will hold talks with the opponents of Women's Reservation Bill before the government's takes the next step on it, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday.
The Congress on Monday gave a clean chit to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and spiritual preacher Deoraha Baba, whose names figure in the list of those found culpable by the Liberhan Commission, for the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. "Vajpayee's name was not in the conspiracy (to demolish Babri mosque). His name was only in one of the lists," Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said.
Union Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Wednesday that Indian Muslims have failed to show their existence not only in the country but also outside it, underlining it as the reason why US President Barack Obama made no mention of them while expressing his desire to speak to Muslims of the world.
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