Date:30/09/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/09/30/stories/2004093002920600.htm

Back Commission soon for welfare of backward sections in minorities

Our Bureau

New Delhi , Sept. 29

THE Union Cabinet has decided to set up a National Commission to recommend measures for the welfare of socially and economically backward sections in religious and linguistic minorities, including reservation in education and Government employment.

The mandate of this Commission will be three-fold. It will suggest criteria for identification of such people, recommend measures for their welfare - including reservation in education and government employment and suggest necessary constitutional, legal and administrative modalities for implementation of its recommendations in the matter.

The Commission is expected to submit its report by March 31 next year and will be constituted by the Prime Minister.

Also, the Cabinet took several other decisions including approving an Extradition Treaty to be signed between India and South Korea and authorised ratification of the treaty. This treaty will provide a legal framework for seeking extradition of terrorists and other criminals from South Korea.

It also approved agreements on tourism cooperation signed between India and Thailand and between India and Brazil to promote tourism.

The Cabinet also approved accession to the Hague Convention abolishing the need for legalisation of Foreign Public Documents, 1961; designating the External Affairs Ministry as the competent authority under the convention; and to enact legislation to give effect to the convention in India.