Muslims must stop demanding reservation: Najma Heptullah - The Times of India
Jan 4, 2015
MUMBAI: Union minister for minority affairs Najma Heptullah said on Saturday that Muslims should stop demanding reservation and should, instead, concentrate on empowering themselves with education and skills.
On her second trip to the city after she joined the Narendra Modi-led cabinet, she was speaking the media and Muslim activists at Sahyadri Guest House, Malabar Hill, on Saturday, Heptullah said, "I have always maintained that reservation is a crutch, which saps the energy to face challenges. Muslims will not get reservation as the Constitution doesn't allow quota on religious ground. I am a Muslim and a woman. Did I ever need reservation? The same applies to my fellow community members," said Heptullah, claiming ignorance of the grounds on which the BJP government in the state has brought in a bill for Maratha reservation (16%) while keeping mum on the 5% Muslim reservation in government jobs and education declared by the Congress-NCP government.
"I reiterate that Muslims should not waste time and energy, demanding quota as it is mere tokenism," she said.
She, however, promised to convey the disappointment of Muslims to the Maharashtra CM and the PM .
Heptuallh said that of 7 lakh Wakf properties across the country, Maharashtra alone has 30,000. "If fully utilized, Wakf properties will generate around Rs 20,000 crore annually which can make the community self-reliant," she said.
Heptuallh announced the regional offices of National Minorities Development Finance Corporation which will undertake skill training of minorities. She said her department plans to set up a western regional office in Mumbai to take centre's schemes to the beneficiaries in this part of the country.
Indian Muslims should not get reservation on religion basis but they can benefit from schemes from the state and central government.
Jains got minority status and i think because of this only the demand of Muslim reservation is being demanded.
Minority status to benefit Jain students - The Hindu
Now, Jain students whose family’s annual income is less than Rs. 2.5 lakh are eligible for scholarship given by the State government, which recognises Jains as minority community.
But with national minority status accorded by Union government, this limit goes up to Rs. 4.5 lakh, under Centrally-sponsored scholarships.
“One of the biggest benefits from the minority status will be in the education sector both for students as well institutions run by Jains. Students from our community will now have access to a number of Central scholarships, which were hitherto not available to us,” said Jitendra Jain, president of Karnataka Jain Association.