Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday demanded separate allocation of funds in the budget for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities and backward communities.
New Delhi, May 18 : Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Friday demanded separate allocation of funds in the budget for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minorities and backward communities.
Calling for establishing socially just and casteless society through empowerment of the downtrodden through education, he said it was essential to provide equal opportunities in elementary education for the sake of fair competition.
Speaking at the concluding session of a two-day conference on 'Empowerment of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Minorities through Elementary Education' here, Paswan advocated the cause of basic education.
He said that villages with more than 40 percent population of SC/ST and minorities and backward communities should be adopted as 'Model Villages' and should be provided with quality residential education institutions.
He also supported reservation of seats in private schools for the students from Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in order to provide them equal opportunities in quality education. Criticising those who get admission on the basis of capitation fees, Paswan asked, "is it not another kind of reservation where a less deserving candidate gets preference over a deserving candidate?"
Quoting the history, the Minister said that Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists, and other minorities were not foreigners. "Dr. (Bhimrao Ramji) Ambedkar chose to convert to Buddhism not because the Buddha was a SC/ST or backward, but because he preached and practiced equality. Those who converted to Buddhism with Dr. Ambedkar were mostly dalits," he said.
He went on to say that depriving SCs, STs and minorities of their constitutional rights was a serious and a long standing problem, which needed to be addressed with all out efforts.
Expressing concern over diminishing job opportunity in public sector undertakings in the wake of disinvestments, the Minister said reservation was justified in private sector also.
ANI