By TCN News
New Delhi: Sharing wide-spread dissatisfaction over the implementation of Multi-Sectoral Development Programme for minority-dominated districts, newly-appointed Union Minority Affairs Minister K. Rahman Khan has said that the programme shall be reviewed to bring it in line with the needs of the minorities. He was speaking to South Asian Minorities Lawyers Association (SAMLA) delegation which met him on Friday evening to felicitate him.
K. Rahman Khan (third from left) with SAMLA members.
K. Rahman Khan said that the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme has incorporated schemes like Anganbadi,etc. which were already being implemented in the country and would have been implemented even in the absence of this programme in these districts. “There is a need to have customised or tailor-made schemes for minorities in these districts as per the specific requirements. The programme should concentrate on building of infrastructure and durable assets in these district”, K.Rahman Khan said.
K.Rahman Khan further said that he would also work on 15-Point programme for minority welfare.
He emphasised that his ministry, being a central ministry, has to depend upon state government for implementation of its scheme.
“We can do nothing except persuasion if a particular state government decides not to implement its schemes and programme as has happened in case of scholarships for minorities in Gujarat. Gujarat state government refused to implement this scheme”, K.Rahman Khan said.
He said that no programme of minority welfare can succeed unless there in active participation by the stake-holders. He called upon the lawyers to be vehicle of awareness and training for social activists at the grass-root level so that proper implementation of government programmes is ensured.
Expressing his keenness to pass the Waqf Amendment Bill, he said, ““The present Wakf Act of 1995 took 25 years for its passage, we do not want to delay the Waqf Amendment Bill any further”.
Recalling his long association with waqf issues, he assured the delegation that community’s objections to the provisions of the currently pending Waqf Amendment Bill shall be considered before its passage.
“It is the community which should take charge of the waqf properties and ensure their protection, the law alone would not be sufficient,” he said.
He expressed concern over the recent surge in communal violence and said that he would try his best to get the Communal and Targeted Voilence Bill passed. “There have been objections by various political
parties on various provisions of the bill, mainly concerning powers of the states, the government will have to see how these can be resolved and the bill is passed”, he said.
The delegation of SAMLA consisted of its president I.H. Jafri, secretary general Firoz Khan Ghazi, Delhi Bar Council Chairperson Mrs. Rana Parveen Siddiqui and many other prominent lawyers. The delegation raised several issues concerning the minority communities. These issues included recent resurgence of communal riots, Waqf Amendment Bill, capacity building among minorities, and adequate representation of minorities in judiciary and government panels.