Panel recommends reducing minority cut-offs
10 May 2012 4:24 AM GMT
The cut-off of 25 per cent minority population for identifying a minority concentrated district (MCD) should be reduced to 15 per cent and the unit of planning brought down from district to block level, a Parliamentary panel today suggested.
The 27th report of the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment headed by BSP MP Dara Singh, tabled in both Houses of Parliament, has also recommended that Minority Affairs Ministry should obtain the latest block level data of 2011 Census and take immediate steps to achieve the objective.
It held that bringing down the unit of planning from district to block level will help cover more and more population of minorities. The Committee expressed apprehension that the criterion of 25 per cent minority population for identification of MCDs is very high and would deprive benefits to many significant minority population districts, which are relatively backward in terms of socio-economic conditions or basic amenities.
The ministry was also striving to scale down the percentage to 15 per cent, a move which could easily add up to 40 more districts in the existing list of MCDs.
Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had in 2010 itself expressed the hope that he would be able to get it done in the 12th plan.
The panel’s recommendation, as such, has come as a shot in the arm for the ministry, pursuing the objective.
The committee also noted with dismay that even after three years of the launch of Multi Sectoral Development Plan (MsDP), the district plans of all the 90 MCDs have not been fully approved.
The 27th report of the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment headed by BSP MP Dara Singh, tabled in both Houses of Parliament, has also recommended that Minority Affairs Ministry should obtain the latest block level data of 2011 Census and take immediate steps to achieve the objective.
It held that bringing down the unit of planning from district to block level will help cover more and more population of minorities. The Committee expressed apprehension that the criterion of 25 per cent minority population for identification of MCDs is very high and would deprive benefits to many significant minority population districts, which are relatively backward in terms of socio-economic conditions or basic amenities.
The ministry was also striving to scale down the percentage to 15 per cent, a move which could easily add up to 40 more districts in the existing list of MCDs.
Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had in 2010 itself expressed the hope that he would be able to get it done in the 12th plan.
The panel’s recommendation, as such, has come as a shot in the arm for the ministry, pursuing the objective.
The committee also noted with dismay that even after three years of the launch of Multi Sectoral Development Plan (MsDP), the district plans of all the 90 MCDs have not been fully approved.
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