By TwoCircles.net Staff Writer,
New Delhi: The much-touted Equal Opportunity Commission to be set up by the Central Government may now be limited to minorities. The decision to narrow the ambit of EOC was taken by a group of ministers headed by Defence Minister A K Antony here on 12th August.
R-L: Gulzar Ahmad Qasmi (UP Milli Council president), Dr Manzoor Alam, Yusuf Hathim Muchall and Mauji Khan (Milli Council official)
The National Common Minimum Program of UPA-1 had promised an EOC to provide for full equality of opportunity, particularly in education and employment for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and religious minorities. But the wide ambit resulted into a turf war over the EOC overlapping jurisdiction of other commissions which are dealing with similar issues for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and for Backward Classes.
Moreover the latest decision to narrow the ambit of EOC to minorities also got strength from the fact that EOC was actually envisages by Sachar Committee that talked about ensuring an equitable share for minorities, said an Economic Times news report quoting a source in the GoM as saying: “The idea of an Equal Opportunity Commission is the outcome of the Sachar Committee’s recommendation. The committee was focused on ensuring an equitable share for minorities. So it is clear that the ambit of the commission should be limited to minorities.”