Sanskritik Sadbhav Mandap: PMJVK

• 30 Jun 2020

Why in News

Recently, the Minister of Minority Affairs has laid the foundation stone for ‘Sanskritik Sadbhav Mandap’ (multi-purpose community centre) at Rampur in Uttar Pradesh.

• This community centre will be utilized for various socio-economic-cultural activities, skill development training, coaching, different sports activities and relief activities during disasters such as Covid-19.
• It is being constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK).

Key Points

• Restructured: Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) is a restructured and renamed form of the erstwhile Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP).
  
  • The scheme was restructured on the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment headed by Ramesh Bais, which submitted its report on ‘Implementation of Scheme of Multi-Sectoral Development Programme/Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram’ on 9^th August 2018.
• Implementation Period: The restructured scheme is to be implemented during the remaining period of the 14^th Finance Commission i.e. 31st March 2020.
• Funding: Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
• Background:
  
  • In the year 2008-09, Government conceived the Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) as a centrally sponsored scheme.
  • Initially, the MsDP scheme was launched in the 90 Minority Concentration Districts of the country.
  • To sharpen the focus on the targeted communities, the scheme was restructured during 2013-14 and the unit of planning for implementation was changed to Minority Concentration Blocks (MCB), Minority Concentration Towns (MCT) and Clusters of Minority Concentration Villages (COV).
• Implementation Region: The PMJVK will continue to be implemented in MCBs, MCTs and COVs. A new area for implementation of PMJVK has been included namely Minority Concentration District Headquarters (MCD Hq).
  
  • The identified areas namely MCBs, MCTs, MCD Hqs and COVs for implementation of PMJVK are collectively known as Minority Concentration Areas (MCA).
• Basis of Selection: On the basis of a substantial population of minority communities i.e. 25% of the minority population in the area and backwardness parameters (literacy rate, female literacy rate, work participation rate and female work participation rate) along with basic amenities indicators in the area concerned which are below the national average based on population data of Census 2011.
  
  • As per the Census 2011, the percentage of minorities in the country is about 19.3% of the total population of the country.
    
    • The population of Muslims are 14.2%, Christians 2.3%, Sikhs 1.7%, Buddhists 0.7%, Jain 0.4% and Parsis 0.006%.
• Minority Community: As far as PMJVK is concerned, the communities notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 would be taken as Minority Communities.
  
  • At present six communities namely Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains have been notified as Minority Communities.
• Other schemes which aim at the inclusive growth of the minority communities:
  
  • Seekho Aur Kamao.
  • Usttad.
  • Garib Nawaz Kaushal Vikas Yojana.
  • Nai Manzil.
  • Nai Roshni.
  • Begum Hazrat Mahal Girls scholarships.

Minorities in India

• Constitutional Provisions: The term "Minority" is not defined in the Indian Constitution. However, the Constitution recognises only religious and linguistic minorities.
  
  • Article 29: It provides that any section of the citizens residing in any part of India having a distinct language, script or culture of its own, shall have the right to conserve the same.
    
    • It grants protection to both religious minorities as well as linguistic minorities.
    • However, the Supreme Court held that the scope of this article is not necessarily restricted to minorities only, as use of the word ‘section of citizens’ in the Article that include minorities as well as the majority.
  • Article 30: Under the article, all minorities shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.
    
    • The protection under Article 30 is confined only to minorities (religious or linguistic) and does not extend to any section of citizens (as under Article 29).
  • Article 350-B: Originally, the Constitution of India did not make any provision with respect to the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities. However, the 7^th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1956 inserted Article 350-B in the Constitution.
    
    • It provides for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President of India.
    • It would be the duty of the Special Officer to investigate all matters relating to the safeguards provided for linguistic minorities under the constitution.
• Parliamentary Provisions:
  
  • National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992: The act defines a minority as “a community notified as such by the Central government”.
  • Under this act, the government formed the National Commission for Minorities which consists of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and five members. The five members including the Chairperson shall be from amongst the minority communities.

Minorities Rights Day in India

• The National Commission for Minorities observes the 18^th December as Minorities Rights Day every year.
• The day marks the adoption of the “Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities” by the United Nations in 1992.
  
  • The declaration 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.

Source: PIB