1. RECOMMENDATIONS OF RANGANATH MISHRA COMMISSION REPORT AND THE WEST BENGAL LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENT’S PERFORMANCE
“Since the minorities – especially the Muslims are very much under-represented, and sometimes wholly unrepresented, in government employment, we recommend that they should be regarded as backward in this respect within the meaning of that term as used in Article 16 (4) of the Constitution…and that 15 percent of posts in all cadres and grades under the Central and State Governments should be earmarked for them as follows: (a) The break up within the recommended 15 percent shall be 10 percent for the Muslims (commensurate with their 73 percent share of the former in the total minority population at the national level).”… Report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, May 2007 (tabled in Parliament in December 2009)
· The 7th LF government has implemented 10% reservation in government jobs for 53 backward communities among Muslims
· As a result of the expansion of State OBC list, currently, among 2.02 crore Muslims in Bengal, 1.72 crores are OBCs amounting to over 85% of total Muslims in the state.
· West Bengal is the first and only state to implement the Ranganath Misra Commission recommendation to provide 10% reservation for Muslims in state government jobs
· There is now a total 17% OBC reservation in West Bengal: 10% for Muslim OBCs and 7% Non-Muslim OBCs.
2. RECOMMENDATIONS OF RANGANATH MISHRA COMMISSION REPORT AND LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENT’S PERFORMANCE (contd.)
“Select institutions in the country like the Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Millia Islamia should be legally given a special responsibility to promote education at all levels to Muslim students…At least one such institution should be selected for this purpose in each of those States and Union Territories which has a substantial Muslim population.”…. Report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, May 2007 (tabled in Parliament in December 2009)
· Under the 7th LF government a new campus of Aligarh Muslim University has been established in Murshidabad, which has started offering law and MBA courses from this year.
· West Bengal government has made 300 acres of land available for setting up this AMU regional campus.
· The Calcutta Madrasah was upgraded to Aliah University in 2007, which is currently offering five year integrated MA and MSc courses in humanities, social sciences, basic sciences, engineering, management and computer science alongside Arabic and Islamic theology.
· The Aliah University is already operating with 28 faculties. A total number of 327 new posts were created in various departments of the university till 2010.
· Two new universities in MCDs of West Bengal, namely WB State University in Barasat and Gour Banga University in Malda have over 20% enrolment of Muslim students.
3. RECOMMENDATIONS OF RANGANATH MISHRA COMMISSION REPORT AND LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENT’S PERFORMANCE (contd.)
“The Madarsa Modernisation Scheme of the government should be suitably revised, strengthened and provided with more funds so that it can provide finances and necessary paraphernalia either (a) for the provision of modern education up to Standard X within those madarsas themselves which are at present imparting only religious education or, alternatively, (b) to enable the students of such madarsas to receive such education simultaneously in the general schools in their neigbourhood.”…Report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, May 2007 (tabled in Parliament in December 2009)
· For the purpose of expansion of madrasah education, the total State budgetary provision of West Bengal has increased significantly from only Rs.5.6 lakh in 1976-77 to Rs. 574.0 crore in the current year. The Central Government’s allocation for madrasah education (SPQEM) was only Rs. 127 crore in 2011 Budget.
· The number of madrasahs in West Bengal has increased from 238 in 1977-78 to 605 in the current year, and the number of students has increased from 4,338 to 4.78 lakh over this period.
· The West Bengal Madrasah Service Commission was established in 2008 to overview the recruitment of madrasah teachers. By 2009, more than 4,000 new teachers were recruited by the Madrasah Service Commission. 93% of total new recruit were Muslims.
· There were only 2580 madrasah teachers in 1977, which has increased nearly 8 times to the current figure of 19,992 by 2010.
4. RECOMMENDATIONS OF RANGANATH MISHRA COMMISSION REPORT AND LEFT FRONT GOVERNMENT’S PERFORMANCE (contd.)
“We further recommend that effective ways should be adopted to popularise and promote all the self-employment and income-generating schemes among the minorities and to encourage them to benefit from such schemes…
We recommend that the rules, regulations and processes of the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation be overhauled on a priority basis…with a view to making it more efficient, effective and far-reaching among the minorities.”... Report of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, May 2007 (tabled in Parliament in December 2009
· Rs. 422 crore worth of credit has been disbursed by the West Bengal Minority Development Corporation (WBMDFC) till January 2011; 182646 persons have benefited from the disbursal of term loan and micro-credit by the WBMFDC till January 2011; (Beneficiary of term loan 78105 & beneficiary of micro-credit 75265);
· This is the best record of credit disbursement among all minority finance corporations in the country.
· The share of bank loans for the minorities in the total priority sector loans of the banks in the State has increased from 7.89% as on March 31, 2009 to 14.76% as on March 31, 2010, and this share has increased further to cross the national level target (15%) and reached 15.01% as on September 30, 2010.
· West Bengal is the best performer in terms of implementing the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEG). Among self-employed business persons, who benefited from PMEG, over 30% are minorities.
· Among all self-help groups in West Bengal with access to institutional credit, 21.8% are groups with Muslim members. The average loan size of WBMDFC to SHGs is Rs. 1.25 lakh, which is the highest in the country.
5. IMPLEMENTATION OF SACHAR COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS IN WEST BENGAL
The flagship scheme of the Central Government in implementing the Sachar Committee recommendations is the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) for Minority Concentrated Districts.
· West Bengal has emerged as the foremost state in the country in the implementation of the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP). West Bengal accounts for 12 out of total 90 MSDP districts in India.
· Rs. 264.24 crore has been already spent on MSDP in West Bengal till 31st December, 2010, which is the highest in the country among all states implementing MSDP.
· The highest number of houses in Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) (21317), anganwadi centres (4109), additional classrooms (2043) etc. in Muslim concentrated areas has been built in West Bengal.
· Against the approved estimates of Rs. 3780 crore for MSDP for the XI Plan period, only Rs. 2750 crore has been reflected in approved XI Plan document. This meager resources are being further cut by the Central Government as can be seen in this year’s budgetary support for MSDP: a decline from Rs. 1160 crore in 2010-11 to Rs. 1050 crore in 2011-12
WEST BENGAL SPENDS 36% OF TOTAL MSDP EXPENDITURE IN INDIA TILL 30.12.2011: HIGHEST IN THE COUNTRY
WEST BENGAL LEADS THE COUNTRY IN PHYSICAL ACIEVEMENTS UNDER MSDP
6. WEST BENGAL AHEAD IN LAND OWNERSHIP AND EDUCATION OF MUSLIMS
Land:
· The success of land reforms under the Left has significantly benefited the Muslims. 30.9% of the rural households in West Bengal are Muslim households having access to 25.6% of the total cultivated land in the state (second only to Jammu and Kashmir with 30.3%).
· Out of total number of land pattas distributed in the state during the period of 1977-2010, 18% were allotted to Muslim households.
School Education:
· According to the NUEPA report, while Muslims are 25.25% of the population of West Bengal, 30.03% of all children enrolled at the primary level in West Bengal in 2009-10 were Muslims. The national average is 13.04% only (in 2009-10) .
· In 2011, out of a total of 10,04,931 Madhyamik examinees in West Bengal, 2,53,779 are Muslim students, which is 25.27% of total Madhyamik examinees.
· In 2011, out of 6,38,240 Higher Secondary examinees, 1,48,777 are Muslims, which is 19.85% of total Higher Secondary examinees.
· In 2011, 49,588 Muslim students have appeared in Madrasah Board Examination in the state.
FIVE QUESTIONS FOR TRINAMOOL CONGRESS
1. Why is Trinamool Congress silent on the reservation for Muslim OBCs in West Bengal?
2. As per Sachar Committee Report, only 4.5% of Railway employees are Muslims. How many Muslims have been recruited in the Railways since 2009?
3. TMC Manifesto talks about implementation of Sachar Committee recommendations. What have the TMC Ministers done at the Centre in this regard, till date?
4. Has the TMC accepted the Allahabad High Court verdict on Ayodhya (Babri Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi case)?
5. Can the TMC cite one issue in which it has opposed the communal politics of RSS-BJP?
Kolkata, 3rd April, 2011
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