Minorities Welfare
Significant headway has been made for welfare of minority communities in Madhya Pradesh over the past four and a half years.
Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to create a separate department for the welfare of the minority communities. It is also the first state to have established a Waqf Tribunal headed by a district judge for the expeditious disposal of disputes regarding waqf properties. The Tribunal has so far registered 1850 cases and disposed 130 of them.
For the first time a statutory Madhya Pradesh State Minorities Commission has been established, following the enactment of the Madhya Pradesh Rajya Salpsankhyak Ayog Adhiniyam, 1996.
Madhya Pradesh is also the first state in the country where district-level minority welfare committees have been appointed to monitor and advise on the implementation of various schemes being implemented for the development and welfare of minority communities. The district level committee has members, including representatives of Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities. One third of the members of these committees are women representing all the minority communities.
Education for Muslims
In view of the educational backwardness of the Muslim community, the Government of Madhya Pradesh have adopted a number of measures for the spread of education in the community. The state government appointed a Cabinet sub-committee headed by the Minister of School Education to suggest measures for the advancement of education in the Muslim community. Based on its recommendations, several new initiatives have been taken in this direction. The Chairman, State Minorities Commission has been cooped as a member of this Sub-Committee.
For teaching Urdu language, the state government sanctioned 1100 posts of school teachers during 1995-96, which were filled up in the following year. An additional 1000 posts for Urdu school teachers were sanctioned during the 1997-98 and the process of filling up these posts is under way.
In addition, the state government has decided to provide an Urdu teacher in all localities where the population of the Muslim community is 250 or more. During the current financial year 84 posts of lecturers have been sanctioned for teaching Urdu and Arabic languages at the college level.
Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country to define an educational institution run by a minority community. Bhopal, Kurwai and Vidisha have been selected for launching the Centrally Sponsored Area Intensive Programme for expanding facilities for education among Muslims. Under the scheme, new educational institutions would be established to meet the needs the community, at places where facilities are inadequate.
Under a centrally sponsored scheme for the modernisation of madarsa education by introducing subjects like English, Science, mathematics, social sciences, 102 Madarsas have already been selected for central assistance. An additional 350 madarsa and maktabs are being considered for inclusion in the scheme.
A statutory Madarsa Board is being constituted for granting recognition to madarsas and to conduct examinations for the 5th and 8th classes so as to ensure uniform standards of educaution throughout the state. The Madarsa Board will ultimately cover 6000 madarsas all over the state ... The mid day meal scheme for children attending primary schools has been extended by the union government to cover all madarsas and maktabs recognised by the state government.
During the year 1996-97, permission was granted for the opening of eight new colleges of professional studies to institutions run by the minority communities. The Anjuman Karimia College, Indore, was granted permission to establish a commerce faculty, Shri Guru Ramdas Khalsa Education Society, Jabalpur, has been granted permission for opening a new engineering college. The Al-Farooque Education Society, Indore and the Heinemam Society, Bhopal, have been granted permission to establish degree colleges for Unani medical education. In addition, the government has established a government Unani medical college at Bhopal. It will begin functioning from the current academic session and has been named after a noted Hakeem Syed Zia Ul Haq.
The certificates awarded by Jamia Urdu Aligarh, have been recognised by the State government for employment.
Socio-Economic Status Survey
Madhya Pradesh is the second state after Karnataka, to undertake a state wide survey to determine the economic, social and educational status of the minority communities in the state. This is to formulate proper schemes for their socio-economic development.
It is the first state to have formulated a special scheme under the Pratistha Yojana for the economic rehabilitation through self-employment ventures of Muslim sanitation workers at a cost of Rs. 1.5 crores.
A Cabinet Sub-Committee under the chairmanship of the Minister for Commerce and Industry has been constituted to explore and recommend new employment opportunities for members of minority communities. The chairman of the State Minorities Commission has been specially cooped on this committee.