Need consensus on reservation for Muslims: PM

Stating that the United Progressive Alliance government was committed to the welfare of minorities, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a letter to Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, said there was a need to create "broad-based national consensus on the issue of reservations to the Muslim community."

Responding to a memorandum submitted by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, the Prime Minister in a letter to the organisation's national president Moulana Qari Mohammed Osman said the government is committed to the welfare of the minorities in the country, according to a release sent by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, Andhra Pradesh unit said. 

There was a need for broad-based national consensus to move forward on the issue of reservations to the Muslim community, the prime minister said.

Highlighting the measures taken up for the welfare of the Muslim community, Singh said the budget of the Ministry of Minority Affairs has gone up from Rs 500 crore in 2007 to Rs 2600 in 2010-11.

He said that every year more than 20 lakh students belonging to minority communities were given scholarships to study in schools, colleges and universities.

The prime minister has said more than Rs 2000 crore has been sanctioned for special development plans in over 80 minority concentrated districts in the country, the release said.