Proposal on reducing population cut off for minority districts

Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters here that the sub group has already made the proposal to the Planning Commission for reducing the cut off mark for minority population from 25 to 15 per cent as well as for bringing down the unit of planning from district to block level.

If the proposal gets a favourable response from the plan panel, it will easily add 40 more districts in the existing list of 90 MCDs in the country where the Multi Sectoral Development Plans (MSDP) are being carried out.

In its 27th report that was tabled in Parliament in the Budget Session, the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment headed by BSP MP Dara Singh had also made similar recommendations.

The parliament panel had also advocated that Minority Affairs Ministry should obtain the latest block level data of 2011 Census and take immediate steps to achieve the objective.

It held that bringing down the unit of planning from district to block level will help cover more and more population of minorities.

The committee expressed apprehension that the criterion of 25 per cent minority population for identification of MCDs is very high and would deprive benefits to many significant minority population districts, which are relatively backward in terms of socio-economic conditions or basic amenities.

The ministry was also striving to scale down the percentage to 15 per cent. Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid had as far back as in 2010 itself expressed the hope that he would be able to get it done in the 12th plan.