By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Eying minority votes in the five assemblies elections the Congress led UPA government has hinted that the number of minority concentrated districts (MCDs) will be doubled. Delivering the valedictory address at a conference of state minority commissions here at Vigyan Bhawan yesterday, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said that there are plans to double the MCDs in order to facilitate effective implementation of minority welfare schemes specially demarcated for the MCDs. It will also ensure that more and more minorities will benefit from these schemes.
The Central Government has created MCDs for the special development plans for the minorities in areas where their population is 25 per cent or above. At present there are 90 MCDs.
Elaborating the plan, the Minister said that the minimum population criteria for creating an MCD could be decreased from 25 per cent to 15 per cent. Mr. Khursheed said that 15 per cent is even otherwise a general figure accepted by the government for giving benefits to minorities in various schemes.
If the population criterion is decreased from 25 to 15 then the total number of MCDs in the country will go up to 150 from the existing 90. It will also increase the number of MCDs in UP which will go to polls in 2012, from 21 to 42. States like West Bengal and Assam too will see substantial increase in number of MCDs if the percentage is lowered down to 15%.
Addressing the gathering of state minority commission chiefs, Mr. Khursheed assured that he will take up the issue with the Planning Commission and hopefully the increased number of the MCDs will be a part of the next five year plan.
The Minister also assured the delegates that he will take up their demand with the planning commission that the minority concentrated area should be identified at the block, city and district wise and said he will try to ensure that it is done in the next plan. Interestingly this was also demanded by K Rahman Khan, the deputy chairman, Rajya Sabha few days back during debate on the performance of the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
Mr. Khurshid also informed the delegates that the Communal Violence Bill is in its last stages and soon it will get the cabinets approval.
On this occasion Wajahat Habibullah, chief of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) demanded justice for the 9 Muslim youth who were wrongly implicated in the Malegaon 2006 blasts.
Referring to the confession of RSS pracharak and terror accused Swami Aseemanand, Mr. Habibullah who visited and met these youths in Aurthor Road jail in Mumbai, said that now the government should make sure that these youths get justice. During his visit to Maharashtra he met the Chief Minister, Home Minister and concerned police officers of the state.