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Journalism of Courage
The Prime Minister8217;s Office on Sunday said an avoidable controversy has been created through a 8220;deliberate and mischievous misinterpretation8221; of the PM8217;s statement on minorities at the National Development Council meeting on Saturday. The PMO also blamed some sections of the electronic media for 8220;fuelling a baseless controversy8221; by quoting Manmohan Singh out of context.
The statement said the PM8217;s reference to the first claim on resources referred to all the priority areas, including programmes for the upliftment of SCs, STs, OBCs, women and children and minorities. In his speech Singh had said: 8220;The component plans for SCs and STs will need to be revitalised. We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably in the fruits of development. They must have the first claim on resources,8221; Singh said. He said the Centre had other myriad responsibilities whose demands would have to be fitted within the overall resource availability.
The PMO statement the Prime Minister made the observations after referring to the 8220;very good performance of the Indian economy in recent months and the expectations that the economy would continue to do well creating new income and employment opportunities for all sections of the society. 8220;While better off sections of the society will benefit from this process, it is the responsibility of the government to pay special attention to the welfare of weaker and marginalised sections,8221; the statement added.
