By News Agency of Kashmir
New Delhi : Economic Advisor to Jammu & Kashmir Government and CEO of JK Bank Dr Haseeb Drabu has been nominated by the Government of India as a member of the Expert Group on Diversity. The Group would recommend measures for ensuring institutional safeguards to the country’s minorities in different spheres.
The Expert Group, with eminent personalities, as its members has been constituted by the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs as a follow-up to the Sachar Committee Report. The Group would recommend measures to promote diversity in religion, living, education, employment and housing for the minorities. It would also identify the areas and incentives to help the Government in formulating comprehensive policies for the social and economic development of minorities and avenues in private and government employment.
The Sachar Committee Report while expressing grave concern over the fact that minorities in general and Muslims in particular were lagging behind other communities in respect of many socio-economic indicators, had recommended implementation of area-specific programs for their socio-economic development.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s 15-point program for the welfare of minorities also focuses on ensuring reasonable representation of minorities in Government, including the private sector.
The Expert Group on Diversity, after taking into consideration all the aspects of the problems of the minorities, would recommend constitutional safeguards for their overall welfare. If implemented, India would be the second country after the US to provide constitutional safeguards to its minorities through the Diversity Law.
It is in place to mention that Dr Drabu, a renowned economist, was also a member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Economic Development of Jammu & Kashmir headed by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, C Rangarajan. (NAK)