Minority welfare: UPA government faulted on poor implementation

On the issue of reservation for Muslims, which was promised yet again by the Congress in its supplementary manifesto released during its poll campaign, chairman of the committee Amitabh Kundu told IANS that "there is no dearth of evidence both from primary and secondary sources that Other Backward Classes (OBC) among Muslims are much poorer and socially deprived than the non-Muslim OBCs.

"Consequently, Muslim OBCs are facing unequal competition with the others within the OBC category. Our committee deliberated on this issue for long and in great depth, based on all studies available and sponsored by itself on the subject, and accepted the proposition that the OBC Muslims are not getting a legitimate share within the category. The government must therefore propose remedial actions." Kundu said.

He also added that the government can create a separate quota for the Most Backward OBCs which will include both Hindus and Muslims and will be based entirely on socio-economic indicators.