A parliamentary standing committee has suggested that the requirement that a district should have a minimum of 25 per cent of its population belonging to the minority community to be declared a minority concentration district (MCD) be reduced to 15 per cent. In its report tabled in both Houses of Parliament on May 9, the standing committee on social justice and empowerment has said the minority population criteria of at least 25 per cent for a district to be categorised as an MCD is “very high” and thus would “deprive the benefits to many significant minority population districts which are also relatively backward in socio-economic or basic amenities”.
If the percentage is reduced to 15 per cent, the parliamentary panel feels it would enable a larger number of MCDs to be covered under the scheme. It has also noted that the MCD scheme “does not focus entirely on the minority population as districts also cover several blocks/villages which have a substantial high non-minority population”.
Noting that the basis for the identification of a minority concentration district remains the district level and the 2001 census, the panel has asked the ministry of minority affairs to “obtain the latest data of the block level census of 2011 as early as possible and take immediate measures to bring down the unit of planning from the district to the block level” so that a larger number of minorities can be covered by the MCD scheme.