Sachar report: Major issue for UPA

MINORITY REPORT: The Government is trying to restrain individuals from setting their own agenda on the issue.

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New Delhi: HRD Minister of State, MAA Fatmi, has been focussing on the task at hand, which is to look at ways to implement the Sachar Panel recommendations because that's what the HRD Minister, Arjun Singh has asked him to do.

But individual, uncoordinated efforts to get going on this politically sensitive report have not gone down well with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

CNN-IBN has learnt that the Cabinet Secretariat has written a letter to all concerned ministries, asking them not to announce any policy or programme on the report.

The letter was shot off on February 5 - days before the economic editors conference on social issue in Delhi. The HRD Ministry was participating in the conference.

Apparently the intention has been to restrain the Ministry from making any policy announcement during the conference.

The letter has made it clear that

• The Minority Affairs Ministry is the nodal agency to implement the Sachar Committee recommendations.
• All the views will have to be channelled through the Minority affairs Ministry
• An overall view would be taken only later

The message is clear - it's a political agenda, which will be handled at the topmost level.

The Government is likely to table an action taken report in the Sachar Committee recommendations during the Budget Session of Parliament and now the effort obviously seems to be to restrain individuals from setting their own agenda on the issue.