Letter to CM regrets: Gujarat minority population 11.5%, budget allocates 0.066%

By A Representative
Gujarat’s civil rights organization, Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) has regretted that the state government, in its budget for 2020-21, presented in the state assembly last week, has allocated just about 0.066% of the total allocation for the state’s minorities, even though their population is 11.5% in the state.
Of the total budget of Rs 2,17,000 crore, MCC said in a letter to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, there is allocation of Rs 101.35 crore for social services for minorities, Rs 1.51 crore as capital account of social service, Rs 1.50 crore as loan amount for the Gujarat Minorities Finance and Development Corporation, and apart from some other minor allocations.
Demanding that an allocation of Rs 8,320 crore should be set aside for Gujarat’s minorities, the MCC letter signed by its convener Mujahid Nafees said, this should include a fund of Rs 1,000 crore for the creation of a new minority affairs department, and Rs 250 crore for a new state commission for minorities.
Then, MCC said, Rs 1,500 crore should be allocated for the Multi-Sectorial Development Programme (MsDP) for minorities, Rs 2,000 crore for education, empowerment, skill development and livelihood and other special programmes for minorities, and Rs 1,500 crore as special financial package for the upliftment of minorities.
MCC said, Gujarat’s minority population of 11.5%, includes Muslims 9.7%, Jains 1.0%, Christians 0.5%, Buddhists 0.1% and others 0.1%, regretting, 10.18% of Muslim girls drop out at the primary level in Gujarat.
Pointing out that unemployment rate among the minorities is continuously increasing, MCC said, minorities in Gujarat are “far behind others in the field of development, they lack protection, and there is a need of concrete steps immediately for them.”

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

When Sardar Patel opposed reservation, asked Scheduled Castes to give up their “inferiority” complex

Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel By Dr Hari Desai* It is ironical indeed. Though Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was opposed to any kind of reservation in the government jobs and education as well as in the legislatures (like Mahatma Gandhi), even today his name is being drawn in controversies in the present-day agitations demanding reservation in India.

India’s heatwave crisis: How concrete cities are fueling climate emergency

By Rajkumar Sinha* According to recent studies, urban areas are witnessing a much sharper rise in temperatures than rural regions. The planet is currently heading toward an additional 1.9°C of warming — far beyond the target envisioned under the Paris Agreement . A team of climate scientists associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has noted that India’s average temperature increased by nearly 0.9°C during the decade between 2015 and 2024 compared to the early twentieth century (1901–1930). In western and northeastern India, the hottest day of the year has already become 1.5°C to 2°C warmer since the 1950s.

Counterview

Search This Blog