UPA, NDA govts responsible for not implementing post-Sachar report: Prof Kundu

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 19

“Both UPA and NDA governments are responsible for not implementing my report on Post-Sachar Evaluation Committee recommendations for the uplift of Muslims,” said Prof Amitabh Kundu, distinguished fellow at the Research and Information System for Non-Aligned Countries and formerly with the Centre for Study of Regional Development (CSRD), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

He was at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID), Chandigarh, for inauguration of a two-week capacity building programme (CBP) for social science faculty members and research scholars.

“The UPA asked us to submit a report on evaluation of the Sachar committee only four months before its tenure was to get over. We submitted an interim. They asked for the final report. We submitted the same in 2015 to the NDA government. The present government has not rejected it but is saying that it is under consideration,” he said.

“We had proposed for a diversity index for both private and government departments. It is based on the presence of SCs, STs, OBCs and Muslim workers. If it is lower than that, private institution or government department should not be allowed for incentives,” he said, adding that it was a kind of affirmative action.

On the Sachar committee, the UPA had formed two committees — one was on equal opportunity and other on diversity index. Prof Kundu was heading the committee on diversity index.

Speaking on the backwardness of Muslims, Prof Kundu said the literacy rate of SCs/STs had risen more than of Muslims.

“In rural areas, most deprived are STs, then SCs and then Muslims. But in urban areas, Muslims are the most backward on the indices, including per capita consumption and education,” he said.

He said their participation in work force was much lower than Hindus as their women do not work. “Poverty among Muslims is more than the average,” he said.

He said: “The caste system exists among Muslims too. There are people among Muslims who are identified and should be provided reservation under the SC category. They are working as sweepers and cobblers. While others should be accommodated in a sub-quota in the OBC quota as Muslims are much worse than most of the backward communities.”

In his keynote address, Kundu drew parallel between European and Indian Social Science research. He highlighted how successive governments had shied away from socially funding relevant research. Referring to the research in Indian universities, he argued how substantive research was being marginalised. He also talked about bureaucratic hurdles in social science research and discussed means to overcome some bottlenecks.

Professor Sucha Singh Gill, former Director General, CRRID, and professor, South Asian Studies, talked about meaning, aspects, and dynamics of social science research. He outlined that the main purpose of social science research was to contribute to the cause of nation building, besides uplifting those who are marginalised in the process of development.

Prof Birinder Pal Singh, eminent social anthropologist from Punjabi University, Patiala, dwelt on qualitative and ethnographic research methods that work to complement quantitative survey methods.