Sachar report: Govt will tackle all issues, says Cong

New Delhi, Nov 30 (UNI) The Congress today said the Sachar Committee Report was not a religion-specific but a ''holistic approach'' to the larger problem of deprived sections.

''This is not an issue of a particular minority but an issue of deprivation of minorities which includes SCs, STs and backward castes,'' Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, adding it was ''totally wrong to look upon it as a single minority issue.'' He told reporters here that the Govenment would now tackle all the issues raised in the report. ''Comprehensive schemes and plans will be devised which will include plan for pushing the segment forward, creating better opportunities for employment and education,'' he said.

Mr Singhvi clarified that the Congress had always believed in a ''holistic perspective'' for doing its best for all the communities including the minorities. ''We did an honest effort. We constituted the Sachar Committee with a honest purpose to apprise us of the latest facts,'' he said, adding that they now had these facts and would try to cover the ''uncovered areas.'' Since this involves a religion, contructive participation by the relevant group will be required, he said, and indicated a ''multi- pronged attack on the social and educational aspects and modernisation of madarsas.'' Describing the Sachar panel as a ''fact-finding comittee'', Mr Singhvi termed it a ''significant step forward.'' Dismissing a question as to who was responsible for backwardness of Muslims all these years since Independence, he said this was not a occasion to indulge in a blame game. ''We are doing every thing to take the issue much further,'' he noted.

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