'Create posts to make minority data bank fully functional'

Seeking to strengthen a platform which provides users access to all data pertaining to minorities, Minister of State for Health Faggan Singh Kulaste has urged the finance ministry to create posts under IT category to help it make fully functional.
In his letter to the Finance Minister, Kulaste has pointed out that the National Data Bank (NDB) of Socio- Religious categories (SRCs) - set up on the directions of the Sachar Committee recommendations - was working without the required number of officers although a proposal for creation of posts was lying with the Finance Ministry.
"I have been touring all states and UTs (Union Territories) and receiving marvellous appreciation from the Muslim community for the commitment of our government to work for their betterment," he claimed in the letter.

"However, various Muslim NGOs, social groups and educational institutions have been raising the issue of implementation of 'Sachar Committee' recommendations for the benefit of SRCs. Ironically, it has been brought to my notice that the National Data Bank is working without the required number of officers although proposal for creation of posts is lying with your Ministry," Kulaste said in the letter.
The Minister recommended that posts under IT category may be created at the earliest to make NDB fully functional in order to facilitate the government, planners, decision makers, researchers and general users.
"I feel that to facilitate the endeavour of NDB, it would be great if 'No-objection Certificate' for the creation of the Head of the IT is done immediately to get the data bank activated for minorities.

"Under the overarching vision of Digital India, Government of India aims at making government services digitally accessible to citizens of the country in their localities and to ensure efficiency, transference and reliability of such services at affordable costs," he said.

The Sachar Committee report had observed that "one-forth of Muslim children in the age group of 6-14 years have either never attended school or are drop-outs".
"For children above the age of 17 years, the educational attainment of Muslims at matriculation is 17 per cent, as against the national average at 26 per cent. Only 50 per cent of Muslims who complete middle school are likely to complete secondary education, compared to 62 per cent at national level," it said.

The report has also drawn attention to the low levels of education attainment among Muslim women, Muslims in rural areas as well in higher education.
The Rajinder Sachar Committee was commissioned in 2005 by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to prepare a report on the latest social, economic, and educational conditions of India's Muslim community.