In what could open the floodgates to political and legal controversy, the UPA Government is ready to announce a “15-point programme” for what it calls the “welfare” of minorities despite a categorical opinion from the Union Law Ministry that the plan violates the Constitution. For, unlike existing welfare schemes, this plan earmarks 18.4%—the pecentage of minority population in the country—of all key social sector programmes and their outlay for minorities. Not only this, the plan, prepared by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, says that the schemes and funds shall be “further split state-wise for each minority community in the ratio of the populations of the minority community in each state.” Even a new Cabinet Committee on Minorities has been proposed to monitor the programme’s implementation every three months. And the Ministry has asked the Government earmark a percentage of Plan allocation for minorities. Not surprisingly, the Law Ministry has put on record its objection. While Article 38 of the Constitution certainly talks of “minimizing inequality” among individuals or groups, it does not provide “special protection only to a particular section,” the Ministry has said. Therefore, to make a special provision for the minority community alone, may not be “constitutionally permissible” under Article 14 which forbids “discrimination on the ground of religion.” The Supreme Court, too, in a judgment last August, strongly disapproved of notifying minority groups on the basis of religion alone in the “fond hope” of special privileges. “Encouagement to such fissiparous tendencies would be a serious jolt to the secular structure of constitutional democracy.We should guard against making our country akin to a theocratic state based on multi-nationalism. Our concept of secularism is that ‘state’ shall have no religion.” However, brushing aside all this, the Government has argued that the plan draws from a similar programme initiated by former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi in 1983 and Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. Allocating funds according to the percentage of population is a UPA addition. The Government’s rationale: “to sharply focus action on issues intimately linked with social, educational and economic uplift of the minorities.” Blueprint for Controversy 3 Employment programmes Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (rural areas), Swarnjayanti Sahari Rojgar Yojna (urban areas) and Sampurna Grameen Rozgar Yojna for BPL minorities 4 National Slum Development Programme funds 5 “Appropriate” share of priority sector lending by domestic banks for agriculture, small scale business, education and housing loans. 6 Upgrading Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to “centres of excellence”; proportion of new ITIs in minority areas 7 Financial help in rural housing under Indira Awaas Yojna. ‘AFFIRMATIVE ACTION’ 8 Central assistance for hiring Urdu teachers in schools that serve a population in which at least one-fourth belong to that language group. 9 Strengthening Madrasa Modernisation Programme 10 Matric and post-matric scholarships for students. 11 More grant to Maulana Azad Education Foundation to strengthen educational infrastructure. 12 “Special consideration” for minorities in recruitment in state and central police forces as well as Railways, banks and state-run enterprises.
