By Abdul Bari Masoud, MuslimMirror.com,
New Delhi: Since the present government came to power in May 2014, the recruitment of minorities in the Government and Public Sector Undertakings jobs have been came down. Government on Wednesday informed the Parliament that around 8.56 percent employees from minority communities were recruited in Government services and PSUs in 2014-15 that has been come down to 7.5 percent in the 2015-16 year. It also failed to provide the break-up of all six recognized minority communities including Muslims’ percentage in the new jobs.
In reply to a written question, Minister of Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told the Lower House (Lok Sabah) that the consolidated data on recruitment of minorities namely Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis, in respect of Government services and PSUs, collected from various Ministries/Departments by the DoPT for the years 2014-15 is about 8.56 percent.
CPI (M) member from Murishdabad (West Bengal) wanted to know the percentage of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Jains recruited in the Government and Public Sector Undertakings jobs during the last three years and the steps taken by the Government to increase the employment opportunities for the minorities.
Providing only the consolidated figure of recruitment for 2014-15 and 2015-2016, the minister said the government has no data about the 2016-17.
“As per information received from 79 Ministries/Departments, for the year 2014-15, 8.56% employees from minority communities were recruited in Government services and PSUs. For the year 2015-16, as per information received so far from 44 Ministries/Departments, 7.5% employees from minority communities were recruited in Government services and PSUs. For 2016-17, information is not available.”
The Minister dodged the answer of the second question regarding the steps for enhancing minorities’ recruitment. He said, “The Coaching schemes implemented by this Ministry have been strengthened to enhance employment opportunities. Besides, various measures have been taken under employment-oriented skill development training schemes like Nai Manzil, Seekho-aur-Kamao, USTTAD (Upgradation of Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development, NMDFC schemes and Gharib Nawaz Skill Development Training for Minorities to empower them to be employed or self-employed. Hunar Haats have also led to effective employment generation in traditional skills.”
The CPI (M) member also wanted to know how many members of the minority communities filed the complaint who were denied Government jobs? In response to this, Naqvi said “National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has informed that they have no information on the number of complaints filed by the members of minority community who were denied Government jobs.”