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“Maeeshat” going to organize “Minorities Community Media Conference”

Mumbai : The Union Government has set up National Commission for Minorities (NCM) under National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. Six religious communities, viz; Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains have been notified as minority communities by the Union Government.

The NCM adheresmaeeshat logo hindi to the UN Declaration of 18 December 1992 which states that ““States shall protect the existence of the National or Ethnic, Cultural, Religious and Linguistic identity of minorities within their respective territories and encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.”

In the line of said declaration government of India also formed Ministry of Minority Affairs with the view to “Empowering the minority communities and creating an enabling environment for strengthening the multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious character of our nation.”

In this regard the ministry’s mission is “to improve the socio-economic conditions of the minority communities through affirmative action and inclusive development so that every citizen has equal opportunity to participate actively in building a vibrant nation.

”Ministry also facilitates an equitable share for minority communities in education, employment, economic activities and to ensure their upliftment.”

But the situation is not according to what is promised in ruling party’s manifesto. A lot of reports are pouring in that day to day the entire situation is going bad to verse. In that situation the the most challenging question is, what responsibilities devolve on community leaders?

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The interaction between government agencies and minority communities so ephemeral, notional and inoperative as to be virtually non-existent, Those who are aware and conversant with government initiatives are at clear advantage rather that the mass of ignorant people that should be the main target of government’s welfare initiatives.

In this regard, the role of Media is more important other than any work. As majority community forms 81% of total Indian population while full 90% of the media personnel are from the Majority community. The bias in this handling of information dispersal and the translation of this information into practical benefits to the minority community suffers and renders all government efforts, merely notional.

Dominance in Hindi print media, about 97%, eighty five percent top decision makers are from this community.

As per 2001 Census total population of the country is 102.86 Crs, the Majority Population is 83.92Crs (81.6%) and the Minority population is 18.94 Crs (18.4%).

Absence of Minorities in Media results in open failure of all government initiatives, however well-intentioned they may be and does not reflect a correct and balanced view of Minorities social issues, such as maintenance of divorced women, widows and orphans among Muslims. Media monopolised by majority population’s vested interests fail to report discrimination against Minorities in employment, education, housing, delivery of economic benefits.

In this regard we are planning to organize “Minorities Community Media Conference” to promote better interaction between India’s minorities and the media in general.

Please send your suggestion, or enroll for participation on maeeshatmumbai@gmail.com

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