Other minorities too need a Sachar, says NCM

New Delhi, Mar 30: Underlining that every fifth person in the country belongs to a minority community, the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) today said it would soon embark on a survey of the status of minorities other than Muslims, who have already been covered by the Sachar Panel.

''There are problems with other communities like Christians, Parsis and Buddhists too, and they need to be looked into,'' NCM chairman Hamid Ansari told sources.

They have many issues relating to education, livelihood and social status and a proper study like the one carried by Justice Rajender Sachar was needed to get a true perspective before chalking out any plan and schemes for their welfare, said Mr Ansari.

''I think our job has been made easier by the Sachar Panel, as it has identified the sources from which data regading minorities can be obtained and we want to make full use of it,'' the NCM chairman said.

The Commission would engage professional and indepenedent autonomous research bodies for the task.

Mr Ansari said the NCM receives representation from individuals or small groups of other minorities which show the kind of problems their communities might be facing, so it was appropriate to make a systematic study of their social, economic and educational status.

The Sachar Commission had been appointed in 2005 by the Prime Minister to report on the educational, economic and educational status of Muslims and it submitted its report towards the end of the last year.

''It was high time that such surveys were conducted in respect of other minority groups in the country,'' said Mr Ansari.

The NCM chairman said about 200 million people in the country belonged to minority communities, so the Commission had a stupendous job before it to take care of their rights and welfare.

''But the problem was that it has got no investigative power and machinery to implement its decisons. And states do not always cooperate to the desired extent to provide an effective and timely remedy to the needy,'' he said.

It may be pointed out that the Sachar Panel too had recommended that the Commission may be given more teeth to carry out its work for minorities.

Replying to a question, he said dalit Muslims and Christians should also be given reservation and other benefits enjoyed by dalits of other religions like Sikhism and Buddhism.

UNI