Charter of Demands on Sachar Report

I- Recognition of Backwardness

1. *Recognition of the Musilm Community as a Backward Class under Article 15 (4) of the Constitution on the basis of the factual data collected by the Sachar Committee.

2. *Provision of a separate Sub-quota for Muslim Community in proportion to their share in national/state populations and the levels of backwardness in higher education, public employment, development and welfare benefits and bank credit.

*Enlargement of the list of Muslims OBC's through reconciliation of the discrepancy between the Mandal and State Lists and inclusion of other eligible Muslim sub-communities.

3. *Institution of decennial Development Census based on universal and easily accessible parameters and establishment of a National Assessment and Monitoring Authority for collection, analysis, and retrieval of the collected data and monitoring.

II- Political & Administrative Measures

4. *Raising representation of Muslims in Union and State legislatures & PRI's, by appropriate demarcation, rotation of reservation for SC/ST, dereservation of Muslim concentration constituencies and other devises such as double-member constituencies.

5. *Nomination of qualified Muslims against discretionary appointments in the Higher Judiciary, Public Service Commissions, Universities, Public Sector Undertakings, including banks and insurance companies, official Boards, Authorities, Corporations and other statutory bodies.

6. Composite posting of civil and police personnel in districts, blocks and thanas of Muslim concentration.

III- Promotion of Education

7. *Establishing government schools of equal quality in all deprived areas, in accordance with the national norms under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

*Provision of exclusive high schools and hostels for girls.

*Restoration of the Three Language Formula to provide for mother tongue as medium of primary instruction and as a compulsory subject upto X.

*Economic compensation for BPL families to reduce dropout and establishment of vocational schools & ITI's for the dropouts in deprived areas.

8. *Institution of scholarship for Muslims on merit or means at all levels on parity with SC/ST.

9. *Encouragement and facilitation of establishment of professional colleges and private universities by Muslims under Article 30 of the Constitution and equal treatment under Article 29 (2) .

IV- Employment & Economic Uplift

10. *Reservation in Public Employment at all levels in all cadres for Muslims in proportion to their population in the zone of selection.

11. *Distribution of benefit of all development and welfare schemes to Muslims in proportion to their eligible population at the operational level.

12. *Concessional flow of priority sector bank credit, upto say Rs. 500,000, to eligible borrowers by banks for the self-employed, the self-help groups and small entrepreneurs among Muslims and other deprived groups, in proportion to their population in the bank's jurisdiction.

13. *Allocation of due share of municipal and urban development resources to Muslim mohallas and wards.

* Expeditious regularization of Muslim colonies. Rehabilitation of those displaced in slum clearance operations or in communal violence.

14. *Timebound survey of Waqf properties.

*Grant of public premises status to public Waqfs.

*Exemption of Waqfs from rent control and land ceiling laws.

*Establishment of National Waqf Development Corporation & statutory provision for utilization of surplus wakf income for education & economic development.

*Creation of Waqf cadre to meet the administrative needs of all Waqf institutions.

V- Social Dignity

15. *Protection of honour and dignity of the Muslim community against denigration, demonisation and vilification, through statutory curbs on incendiary and provocative speeches and statements and through enactment of hate laws.

Minutes of the Meeting of the JCMO on 11 June, 2007

13 June, 2007

A Meeting of the Joint Committee of Muslim Organisations etc.( JCMO) was held on 11 June, 2007 at D-250, Abul Fazal Enclave, New Delhi-25 with the under signed in chair. The meeting was attended by;

1) Mr. Ejaz Aslam, in representations of the JIH

2) Mr. Mauji Khan, Treasurer, All India Milli Council

3) Dr. Zafrul Islam Khan, Editor , Milli Gazette

4) Mr. M.J. Khan, Convener, NEFM

The recent developments on the progress of implementation of the Sachar Report was reviewed in the light of the cabinet decisions on its recommendation on 17 May, the Parliament's inability to have a discussion, the recommendations of the Mishra Commission as reported in the Press as well as the statement of several political leaders and parties in favour of implementation of Sachar Report and/or provision of reservation for the Muslims Community.

The participants noted that the Muslim Community in the north had not shown much response nor reacted to the very inadequate decisions of the Cabinet on the Sachar Report. It was felt that for effective mobilisation, the JCMO should concentrate on the demand for reservation in public employment and education and proportional benefit of all Welfare and Development Schemes.

The participants also felt that to prepare the ground, there should be a phased programme for mobilisation beginning with the submission of a common memorandum by a select local group in all districts of Muslim concentration to the District Magistrates with copies to the Prime Minister on a Saturday preceded by an announcement in every mosque in the preceding Friday.

In the second phase, the delegations of the JCMO should call on, and submit of memoranda to, the heads of national and other secular parties sympathetic to the cause, as well as the Prime Minister.

The third Phase should be public meetings in the state capitals and the district headquarters.

The fourth Phase should be a peaceful dharna, jointly sponsored by all participating Muslim organisations and institutions at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, on the first day of the next session of Parliament in July.

The final Phase should be joint mass rally in Delhi.

It was also considered, whether the sponsoring Muslim Organisation should form an all India movement to demand reservation for the Muslim Community but a decision was defined.

The Participants concluded that the Central Government was not likely to announce any meaningful measures which have an immediate impact on the uplift of the Community, because of the apprehension of political opposition in the context of successive assembly elections after the July session of the Parliament. The government tactics will be to reiterate its assurances and promises without taking any concrete action. On the other hand, closer to the next general election towards the end of 2008, the UPA may be inclined to seek the support of the Muslim Community, as a matter of survival. But without a sustained mobilisation campaign, the Community will not be in a position to secure a quid pro quo.

It was suggested that apart from the AIMMM, AIMC, JIH, & JUH and Moemin, the Jamaat Ahle-Hadith, the All India Shia Conference and the All India Momin Conference at an all India level may be persuaded to sponsor the mobilisation campaign, in addition to regional Muslim organisations, like the Chennai-based MDMK, the Muslim Reservation Movement in UP, the Forum of Faith and Fraternity in Kerala may be given the charge of organising the campaign in their respective state.

It was decided that the JCMO should meet again before the end of June 2007 to finalise the memorandum and the dates of various phases of the Campaign and other relevant modalities. (Syed Shahabuddin)

Co-Convener

To All Member Organisations:

1. JIH

2. All India Milli Council

3. JUH

4. Moemin

5. NEFM

6. Hamdard Educational Society

7. Milli Gazette

Mobilization for Muslim empowerment

Press Statement

(read at a press conference held at the Press Club, New Delhi today)

The Congress Manifesto and the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA followed by repeated assurances by the Prime Minister to the Muslim Community for due participation in governance and fair share in the fruits of progress and development have raised high expectations in the Muslim Community. Since its access to power, the UPA has revised the Prime Minister's 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of the Minorities. Subsequently, the government has been considering the Report of the High power Sachar Committee on educational, economic and social status of the Muslim Community. The government has also appointed Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission for considering the question of reservation. This Commission has submitted its report and its recommendations are in the public domain and to a large extent supplement and complement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee.

However,none of these recommendations are being implemented adequately or expeditiously with the urgency that they deserve. The Budget for 2006-07 did not reflect the 15 Point Programme or the Sachar recommendations. Except for vague guidelines for implementation of the Programme and some cabinet decisions on a few points of the Sachar Report and the publication of a list of Minority Concentration districts, no concrete measures for the uplift of the Muslims have been spelt out. Consequently, the Muslim Community has not yet experienced so far any increase in access to government jobs or higher education or bank credit or benefit of development schemes.

Now that the UPA government has completed more than 3 years, there is growing disappointment and frustration in the Minorities particularly, the Muslim Community .

Muslim Organizations of national eminence, after wide consultations reached the considered view that the government has been moving slowly and is reluctant to speed up implementation primarily because of the pressure exerted by the political forces in the country which are not sympathetic to the cause of the Minorities and do not support any change in the status quo. The Sachar Committee has clearly indicated that after 60 years of independence the Muslim Community is almost as backward as the SC/ST and is more backward than even the non-Muslim OBC's. The anti minority forces have been openly threatening to incite Hindu masses and stirring a 'Hindu backlash' if the government were to take any effective positive action to uplift the Muslims.

The situation, therefore, calls for organized mobilization by the Muslim Community not only to exert pressure on the government but also to secure the support of all secular forces including sympathetic political parties and members of the intelligentsia sympathetic to their legitimate aspirations. Peaceful mobilization alone can place the case of uplift of the Muslim Community on the national agenda in the larger interest of the country as it forms nearly 1/6 of the national population and its backwardness impedes the overall progress of the country.

With this in view, major Muslim organizations of namely, the Jamiat Ulema Hind, the Jamaat Islami-e-Hind, the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, the All India Milli Council, the Jamiat Ahle Hadith, the Movement for Emplowerment of Muslim Indians, All India Momin Conference, All India Shia Conference and the All India Muslim Educational Society and the Imarat-e-sharia, Bihar formed the Joint Committee of Muslim Organizations for Empowerment , with Mr. Syed Hamid, ex-Vice Chancellor, AMU, as the Patron. It may be added that subsequent to its formation, the All India Qaumi Tanzim, Student Islamic Organization and the Popular Front of India apart from several state level organizations have joined the JCMOE

The JCMOE defined its overall objective as empowerment of the Muslim Community through recognition as a Backward Class with a separate sub-quota for reservation in public employment, higher education, fruits of development schemes and flow of bank credit and the creation of a Muslim Sub-Plan. The JCMOE formulated a Charter of Demands (attached) and has established both a National Advisory Committee consisting of the patron and the heads of associated organizations and a National Organizing Committee.

The various associated organizations and their state and district units jointly and severally,have been organizing public meetings in various places and submitting memoranda based on the Charter of Demands to the state governments and the Central government.The JCMOE has also been meeting the leaders of various political parties and the members of the government to plead the Muslim case.

The immediate demand of the Community is that there should be in depth discussion on the situation of the Muslim Community in the Parliament. In order to awaken the conscience of the nation as well as to build a national consensus and for urgent and effective line of action to raise the educational and economic status of the Community.

The National Advisory Committee assisted by the National Organizing Committee held a meeting on 27 July, 2007, reviewed the progress of the mobilization campaign and decided to organize a 'token dharna' by the leaders of member organizations at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, on 14 August, 2007 and submission of memoranda to the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

It was also decided to appeal to the Imams of Masjids in the country to relate their Khutbas on successive Fridays to the Charter of Demands.

It was also decided that in addition to the meetings at the district level, the states JCMOE's shall hold meetings public meeting in the state capitals of all 13 states of Muslim concentration during the period 10 August to 14 September, 2007.

It has also decided to authorize the states JCMOE's to organize Bandhs by the Muslim Community on suitable dates.

It was also decided that a Muslim Rally shall be organized in New Delhi with the participation of contingents from all over the country in the second week of September.

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National Organizing Committee

Mujtaba Farooque (JIH) Navaid Hamid (MOEMIN) A.H.Nomani (JUH) Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan (AIMMM) Mauji Khan (AIMC) Maulana Aquilur Gharvi (AISC) Dr. S.Q.R.Ilyas (Afkar-e-Milli) Amanullah Khan (U.P.Rabita Committee) Dr. K.K.Usman (Forum of Faith and Fraternity)

Coordinators

Mujtaba Farooque (JIH) 9810499096

Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan (AIMMM) Mobile: 9811142151