Akhilesh asks UPA to provide job quotas for Muslims

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Tuesday asked the UPA government to bring about job reservations for Muslims in line with the Sachar Committee's recommendations.

Addressing the media with central Minister for Minority Welfare K. Rahman Khan here, Yadav said the Samajwadi Party would support any constitutional change the Congress-led UPA initiated in this connection.

He added that his government was working to improve the social, educational and economic status of the Muslim community in Uttar Pradesh.

The chief minister also urged the central government to release funds for centrally-aided minority welfare schemes on time.

He said the state government, through its own resources, was providing financial assistance to Muslim girls for higher education.

Khan said the central government was willing to work with the Uttar Pradesh government for the welfare of minorities in the state.

The Sachar Committee, appointed in 2005 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had recommended job reservations as one of the remedies to remove the backwardness of Indian Muslims.