Questions asked by Dr. Ejaz Ali during Rajya Sabha session July-Aug 2009

No. of questions: 5

Q No: 3270 Support TwoCircles

Dated: 03/08/2009

Ministry: Minority Affairs

Subject: Muslims in government services

Question:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether it is a fact that minorities, especially Dalit Muslims, are less represented in Central Government Services;

(b) if so, the details of representation of Muslims in different Central Government Services;

(c) whether Government intends to augment representation of Muslims, especially dalit Muslims; and

(d) if so, the details thereof?

Answer

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

(SALMAN KHURSHID)

(a) and (b): Government does not maintain statistics of employment of Muslims in the Central Government Services.

The guidelines issued by Department of Personnel & Training (DOPT) on 8th January, 2007 include instructions for monitoring the progress in recruitment of minorities in all Ministries/ Departments, public sector enterprises, public sector banks and financial institutions. The data is not collected minority community-wise or service-wise by the DOPT, but for the five minority communities as a whole. The number of persons belonging to the minority communities recruited during the last three years in the various Ministries/departments and their organisations are given below.
2006-07 2007-08 2008-09
Minorities recruited in respect of 70 Ministries/Departments Minorities recruited in respect of 61 Ministries/Departments Minorities recruited in respect of 32 Ministries/Departments
12,182 12,195 4,479

(c) and (d) The Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities provides for giving special consideration to minority communities in recruitment of police personnel, Central police forces, railways, nationalized banks and public sector enterprises and for this purpose, the composition of selection committees should be representative. In pursuance of this, the Department of Personnel & Training (DOPT) has issued Office Memorandum on 8th January, 2007. The salient features of this Office Memorandum are as follows:-

(i) The composition of Selection Committees should be representative. It should be mandatory to have one member belonging to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe and one member belong to minority community in Selection Boards/Committees for making recruitment to 10 or more vacancies.

(ii) Where the number of vacancies against which selection is to be made is less than 10, efforts should be made to have the Scheduled Caste/Tribe officer and a Minority community officer included in such Committees/Boards.

(iii) Wide publicity should be given to all appointments in Government, public sector enterprises and public sector banks and financial institutions. Advertisements should be issued in the language(s) spoken by a large number of people of the State/UTs, apart from English and Hindi. Further, for Group C and D level posts, having only basic qualifying requirements, information about vacancies for recruitment should also be disseminated through schools and colleges in that area, in addition to normal channels.

(iv) Where there is concentration of minority community population in local areas, the vacancy circular in local language may be distributed in those areas by suitable arrangements In addition to the Office Memorandum of Department of Personnel & Training (DOPT) dated 8th January, 2007 for giving special consideration to minorities in recruitment, as envisaged in the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities and also one of the decisions of the Government on the follow-up action on the recommendations of the Sachar Committee, three scholarship schemes and a coaching & allied scheme have been introduced exclusively for students from the minority communities. These schemes would enable students from the minority communities to pursue education starting from the primary level to higher education, including technical and professional courses, and provide coaching for employment in jobs in the Government and private sector enabling them to compete effectively.

Question:

Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether there is any religious binding in availing the facilities of Scheduled Tribes;

(b) whether tribal Muslims are availing the facilities of Scheduled Tribes throughout the country;

(c) if so, the details thereof; and

(d) if not, the reasons therefor?

Answer

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF TRIBAL AFFAIRS

(DR. TUSHAR A. CHAUDHARY)

(a) to (d) : The communities notified as Scheduled Tribes under Article 342 of the Constitution may profess any religion. The list of Scheduled Tribes is State/UT specific and any inclusion/exclusion/modification in the list of Scheduled Tribes of any State/UT may be done only after the concerned State Government/UT Administration sends the proposal and is agreed by the Registrar General of India and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes. Further, all communities notified as Scheduled Tribes, irrespective of the religion being professed by their members, are entitled to avail the benefits meant for the Scheduled Tribes.

Question:

Will the Minister of TRIBAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether Government recognises the Muslims in Tribal zone, the aboriginal Muslims; and

(b) if so, the reasons for not including them, the aboriginal Muslims in the Scheduled Tribe fold ?

Answer

MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRIBAL AFFAIRS

(Dr. TUSHAR A CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b) : The Scheduled Tribes are notified in terms of the provisions of Article 342 of the Constitution. The criteria for determining of a community as Scheduled Tribe are indications of primitive traits, distinctive culture, geographical isolation, shyness of contact with the community at large and backwardness. The list of Scheduled Tribes is State/UT specific and the Scheduled Tribes may profess any religion. Thus, it is the name of tribe/community which fulfills the aforecited criteria that is included in the list of Scheduled Tribes after it has been agreed upon by all the concerned agencies in terms of the modalities approved by the Government on 15-6-99.

Question:

Will the Minister of HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:-

(a) the status of steps taken by his Ministry to implement Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan for Dalit Muslims; and

(b) the number of schools established and the number of Dalit Muslim students enrolled under the Scheme?

Answer

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOUCE DEVELOPMENT

(SHRIMATI D. PURANDESWARI)

(a) Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) provides for targeted interventions and focused provisioning for education of Muslim children in the age group of 6-14 years, which, interalia, includes support to Madarsas/Maktabs recognized by the State Madarsa Boards for transacting regular curriculum. This support includes appointment of teachers, school grant, teacher grant, free textbooks, teacher training. In addition, support is also provided to set up Alternative and Innovative Education (AIE) Centres for out- of-school children in Madarsas/ Maktabs not recognized by the State Madarsa Boards. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidayalayas (KGBV) prioritise admission of Muslim girls. Instruction in Urdu medium is provided in KGBVs set up in minority blocks.

(b) The number of primary schools opened under SSA in the minority concentrated districts in the last four years is 12,618 . The number of upper primary schools opened in the same period is 14,877.

The enrolment of Muslim children at primary level has increased from 1,23,81,057 in 2006-07 to 1,40,70,466 in 2007- 08. Likewise, the enrolment of Muslim children at the upper primary level has increased from 35,71,186 in 2006-07 to 43,47,809 in 2007-08.

Question:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:-

(a) the provision of mobile health vans for Dalit Muslims, the number thereof, area-wise; and

(b) provision of health check up centres and provision of medicines/doctors in backward areas across the country?

Answer

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

(SHRI GHULAM NABI AZAD)

(a) As per State Data Sheet, as on 30-4-2009, 310 Districts of country have the provision of Mobile Medical Units[MMU] for rural population especially the vulnerable sections irrespective of caste, creed and religion. The list of number of districts, state wise, where MMU is functional is laid on the Table of the House.

(b) Yes, Sir. The service is provided by a network of 145272 sub centers, 22370 Primary Health Centers and 4045 Community Health Centers.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) OF THE RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 25 FOR 3RD JULY, 2009