The State Government should take measures to ensure that people of minority communities get proper representation in the various interview boards for recruitment, said the Chairman of Uttarakhand Minorities Commission Narinderjeet Singh Bindra while addressing the media persons here on Tuesday. He said that the Department of Personnel, (DoP) Government of India mandates that at least one person of minority community should be in the interview boards of various recruitment drives.
The Chairman of State minority commission expressed displeasure at the fact that not even a single member in the State Public Service Commission belongs to the minority community. He said that he has put the fact before the State Chief Minister Harish Rawat and he has assured to rectify this anomaly. Singh however added, the intention of the commission for its demand to increase the minority community share in the recruitment boards does not mean that it is suspicious of the fairness of the selection process. According to the 2001 census, the population of minorities in Uttarakhand is 15.09 percent of total population.
In response to a question, Singh said that the commission is taking a proactive role to ensure that the minorities of the State are benefitted from the various welfare schemes as there is an urgent need to create awareness in the society about the various welfare schemes for the minorities. He said that the commission made a novel attempt when it dispatched brochure to 11,000 newly elected Panchayat representatives in which the various welfare schemes for the minorities were listed.
Singh informed that on December 18, the commission in collaboration with the Minority Ministry of Uttarakhand would celebrate the ‘Minority Rights Day’ at P T seminary auditorium located at Rajpur road. He said that prominent personalities like the Principal of St Stephan’s college Delhi Walson Thampu, prominent agriculture entrepreneur Jang Bahadur Sanga, regional director of NIESBUD Dr Poonam Singh, prominent hotelier and tourism expert S M Sherwani and MD of Roorkee Engineering College Dr J C Jain would speak on various important issues concerning the minorities on the occasion. Singh informed that the Governor of Uttarakhand Aziz Qureshi, Chief Minister Harish Rawat, former Chairman of National Commission of Minorities (NCM) Wajahat Habibullah and members of NCM Ajaib Singh and Praveen Dawar would also be present on the occasion.