Minority report

After pulling up babus entrusted with enforcing PM's 15-point welfare plan for minorities, CM gives them until March end to catch up with 4 years' of arrears

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan let fly at bureaucrats recently in a meeting for not implementing the Prime Minister's 15-point plan for minorities announced in June 2006.


Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and State Minorities Minister Naseem Khan at the meeting with bureaucrats at Sahyadri Guest House

Giving the babus a sharp rap on the knuckles, the CM questioned why the plan was not yet put into action, and set a deadline of March 31 for its implementation.

The meeting was called after State Minorities Minister Naseem Khan appraised the CM of the lag.

Subsequently, on February 12, the CM held a meeting of all bureaucrats responsible for the plan's implementation at Sahyadri, the state guesthouse.

"Only 20 to 25 per cent of the plan has been implemented in the state until now, even though the PM's vision was announced four years ago. The schemes once implemented will give an opportunity to minorities to excel," said Khan.

MiD DAY brings you a progress report of the plan in the state what it set out to achieve and how much it actually has.

The PM's 15-point vision for minorities:
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Fair distribution of the benefits of the Integrated Child Development Scheme through anganwadi centres.
Status in Maharashtra:u00a0
4,000 anganwadis were to be constructed in three years (2008-11) but only 170 are in place till date.u00a0u00a0
Dispensaries do not have Muslim female nurses, so minorities seldom go there.

Improving access to school education.
Status in Maharashtra:u00a0u00a0
Five 100-bed girls' hostels were to be constructed for Urdu medium schools for girls across the state. The work has not begun yet.
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Greater resources for teaching Urdu, recruiting teachers
Status in Maharashtra:
The directorate has not yet submitted the number of Urdu teachers the state requires, though the Centre had asked for it.

Modernising Madrasa Education
Status in Maharashtra:
The state has sanctioned four and recommended 56 proposals for assistance. The education department has
not implemented a single proposal.

Scholarship for meritorious students
Status in Maharashtra:
Nothing constructive happened for the first two years. Now the state has agreed to accept online scholarship requests.

Improving educational infrastructure through Maulana Azad Education Foundation
Status in Maharashtra:u00a0
Nothing constructive has happened till date

Self-employment and wage employment for the poor
Status in Maharashtra:u00a0
In all, 15,985 employment opportunities had to be created under this category. Only 8,577 have been employed.

Upgradation of skills through technical training
Status in Maharashtra:u00a0
This is probably the only area where the state has managed to make some headway.
It has set up many centres and implemented most of the central and World Bank schemes in minority communities.

Enhanced credit support for economic activities
Status in Maharashtra:
Nothing significant has come up so far.u00a0

Recruitment to State and Central services
Status in Maharashtra:u00a0
Only 2.5 per cent of the entire recruitment is available for minorities.u00a0u00a0

Equitable share in rural housing scheme
Status in Maharashtra:u00a0
Nothing significant has happened in this area

Improvement in condition of slums
Status in Maharashtra:u00a0
Nothing significant has happened in this area

Prevention of communal incidents
Prosecution for communal offences
Rehabilitation of victims of communal riots

Status in Maharashtra:u00a0
For all the above, nothing has been done in the state till date.

Babus speak

With four years of work to catch up with, here is what the bureaucrats entrusted with implementing the 15-point minority welfare plan have to say:

T F Thekekara
Principal Secretary, Minority Development Department
"There are various issues that need to be addressed before implementing schemes. The minority department is merely a coordinating agency. Now, every government scheme has to be implemented before March 31 and we have to achieve our target."

Umeshchandra Sarangi
Addl Chief Secretary (Home)
"There is no delay. Whatever was supposed to be done from our end, we have done that."
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Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary (School Education)
"There is no delay from our end. We have implemented certain programmes, and certain proposals have already been sent to the central government for approval."

Sudhir Thakare, Secretary (Rural Development)
"We allocate financial assistance to the deprived - 30 per cent for scheduled castes, 30 for scheduled tribes, 15 for minorities, and 3 for the handicapped - and under the Indira Awaas Yojana to construct houses for the poor. The Centre expects us to spend 15 per cent of its aide and we manage to meet our target."

Vandana Krishna, Principal Secretary Child and Women Welfare
Unavailable for commentu00a0u00a0