Declare policy to protect minorities: Gujarat rights group tells political parties

By Mujahid Nafees* 
In Gujarat, the state government talks about ‘Sabka-Saath, Sabka-Vikas’ but discrimination is normally seen with minority communities, who lack basic facilities. Questions of their protection has remained unresolved. 

Our objective behind the formation of the Minority Coordination Committee  (MCC)  is to understand, analyse the prevalent inequality, discrimination and untouchability against the minorities; constitutional provisions for the rights of minorities; raise the consciousness of the community; and advocate with the government regarding the issues of minorities.  MCC was formed on 18th December 2016 in Ahmedabad on the International Minority Rights Day.
The basic purpose of MCC is to bring the minority society pushed on the margins to the mainstream of society.
Manifesto to build voice among political parties, with demands of minority community in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly Election 2022, is as follows:

Establishment of Ministry of Minority Affairs in all States

The Sacchar Committee Report shed light on the plight of the minority community and the kind of discrimination they are facing in the country. The minority affairs ministry should be made to work on matters of fundamental infrastructure, education, employment and security in minority populated areas. Due to lack of proper ministry in Gujarat, 11.5% of the population is deprived of opportunities; hence the formation of state minority affairs ministry is required in all the states.

Minorities Commission should be constituted in the state and a bill of constitutional strengthening of it should be passed in the Vidhan Sabha

According to the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992, it is the subject of the state government to make commission in the state, due to which the grievances of the minority community in the state are not being effectively redressed and there is a state minority commission in 18 states of the country, state also in Gujarat. There is no minority commission, so a minority commission should be constituted in the state and it should be given constitutional status.

Establishment of Equal Opportunities Commission

The Sacchar Committee Report showed that the Muslim population of the country is behind the national average in employment (government, private), education and opportunities. This is due to rampant discrimination; they are being deprived of opportunities. Therefore, to meet the basic sense of the Constitution, "Equal Opportunities to All", and equal opportunities commission should be formed with the constitutional powers so that all the minority communities of the country can get equal opportunities.

Special Component plan for minorities to ensure allocation in Budget

The minority community of the country is lagging behind mainstream in all spheres. The reason behind this is no proper budget allocation by the government for the development of minority communities. In order to ensure the population wise budget allocation for the minorities in entire country, a special Component Plan should be made.

Madrasa degree should be recognized at par with Gujarat Board

Like other Oriental languages in the state, students studying Arabic, Persian should be recognized at par with Gujarat Board.

Minorities (Prevention of Atrocities) Act should be enacted

To prevent organized attacks on the minority community across country, an urgent minority (Prevention of Atrocities) law should be made, and crimes against them should be made non-bailable.

Enact law for the prevention of Communal Violence

To prevent increasing communal violence in the country and to rehabilitate the people affected by it, to get timely justice and to remove fear from the hearts of the minority community, communal violence prevention law should be enacted, in which special courts should be set up for early hearings of cases related to the violence.

Government should make policy for the resettlement of people displaced by communal violence

For the people displaced by communal violence, the government should make a policy for the resettlement of all without any distinction of religion, caste.

Prime Minister's new 15-point program should be implemented in all the districts

The country's minority society is far behind mainstream; to alleviate its plight, the Prime Minister's new 15-point program should be expanded and implemented in all the districts of the state to enable backward and marginalized sections to be developed.

Strict laws should be made to stop the incidents of mob lynching

Organized gangs of goons have been carrying out incidents of mob lynching on a large scale in the state, to stop this, the state government should make strict laws so that the safety of life and property can be ensured and a fear-free environment can be created.

Arms training, exhibiting organizations should be banned

There is a growing trend of arms display in the country; some organizations are openly conducting arms training, demonstration, trident distribution etc., which is to be stopped by the government with immediate effect because they are used to scare the minority community. Therefore arms training, organizations performing, should be banned.

Protection of Wakf properties

There are large numbers of Waqf properties across the country, which have illegally been encroached and sold. There should be mechanism to save, promote and settle disputes quickly. Waqf Tribunal should be made in each district of the state to work for the development of the community.

Strengthening of Gujarat Minority Finance and Development Corporation

State Minorities Finance and Development Corporation should be made financially strong, for which financial fund should be established, so that minority community can get small loans, assistance on time.

Make laws to ensure political participation

The minority community is a victim of political untouchability in the country. The constitution of India states and believes in sense of equal participation to all the deprived, weaker sections of the country. But we are seeing that minority representation in the politics is very less s per their population. Therefore, to ensure the political representation of the deprived classes, the laws should be made.

Higher secondary schools should be established in minority multi-pronged areas

There is a shortage of Secondary and Senior Secondary schools in the minority multi-pronged expansions, due to which children, especially girls dropped out of the school after getting primary education, their further education is being affected. To ensure equal educational opportunities for all, higher secondary schools should be established in minority multi-pronged areas.

Mir and Fakir community should be included in Vicharti and Vimukt Jatis NT, DNT category

The Muslim Mir and Fakir community in Gujarat has not yet been included in the Nomadic & Denotified Tribes (NT-DNT) community called Vicharati and Vimukt Jatis category of NT, DNT.

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Convener, MCC