New Delhi, March 5: One of the architects of the Sachar committee report for Muslims’ uplift will soon take to the streets to press for implementation of the panel’s recommendations.

Saiyid Hamid, who was a member of the Prime Minister-appointed committee, will be leading a “caravan” of educators, former bureaucrats and social activists through the states where Muslims are worst off — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal.

“We’ll move from town to town in the form of a caravan, knocking at doors and making our community aware of the opportunity for upward movement at a time when possibilities are opening up,” Hamid, chancellor of Hamdard University, told The Telegraph today.

“Caravan-e-Insaaf”, as the campaign is called, will be flagged off by Rajya Sabha deputy chairman K. Rehman Khan in Delhi on March 11.

The caravan, though, is notional. The group will travel by train, journeying southeast for a week before concluding its campaign on March 18 at Cuttack. It will visit Muslim pockets, the principal stops being Meerut, Moradabad, Aligarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Patna and Calcutta.

“A cross-section of dignitaries will join the caravan during its various laps. For the most part, it will travel in the night by train, spend the forenoon in discussions with local leaderships and social activists, and address public meetings in the evening. This pattern will be followed with appropriate modifications in the various towns the caravan visits,” Hamid said.

The academic believes that caravan-based awareness campaigns have been a “tested method of sounding wake-up calls” for the community.

“Since 1992, we have brought out several caravans drawing the community’s attention to literacy, health, inter-communal harmony and social reform. These caravans not only have had the cumulative effect of broad-based enlightenment, but also culminated in greater consciousness of education and health and the opening of a large number of schools.”

Hamid also believes that a “pull from below” is necessary to ensure that the committee’s suggestions are carried out. “The Sachar committee report has recommended strict monitoring of the implementation and whole-hearted co-operation by the intended beneficiaries,” he said.

The panel’s principal recommendations relate to improving education among Muslims, and more job opportunities as well as easier loans for them.