New Delhi, March 12: The Centre recruited members of minority communities to less than 4 per cent of top-grade higher education jobs that fell vacant immediately after it promised adequate representation in decision-making posts.

A confidential internal survey by the human resource development (HRD) ministry has revealed that only 3.4 per cent of faculty members and administrators hired by the government between September 31, 2006, and March 31, 2007, belong to minority communities.

The survey — the first by the government after the Sachar committee report was made public — was conducted under guidelines issued by a cabinet committee following the announcement of the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme to uplift minorities.

The final Sachar report, which highlighted the dismal socio-economic conditions of Muslims, was submitted in late 2006 but the Prime Minister’s programme was announced in that August itself, based on the panel’s interim findings.

The guidelines state that the cabinet should study the progress in implementation of the Prime Minister’s programme every six months. “But the report of the HRD ministry for the first six months is extremely disappointing,” an official in the minority affairs ministry said.

The minority affairs ministry is responsible for collating data from all ministries to present before the cabinet.

“Ensuring an equitable share for minorities in economic activities and employment, through existing and new schemes, enhanced credit support for self-employment and recruitment to state and central government jobs,” is among the objectives of the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme.

According to the 2001 census, Muslims form 13.4 per cent of the country’s population. Christians (2.3 per cent), Sikhs (1.8 per cent), Buddhists (0.8 per cent) and Jains (0.4 per cent) are the other communities recognised as minorities.

The Sachar report — which focused on Muslims — showed that only 6.4 per cent of government jobs in education were held by members of the community.

In the six months that followed the cabinet panel guidelines, the government hired only 37 members from all minority communities for a total of 1,063 vacancies in Grade A jobs in higher education.

Despite forming over 18 per cent of the population, minorities bagged less than 4 per cent of jobs in this grade. All faculty members and senior administrators at universities and other institutes run by the HRD ministry are grade A employees.

The overall proportion of minorities in higher education jobs, including lower grade office staff, is 7.6 per cent.

But officials at the minority affairs ministry said it would be “foolish” to take solace from this figure. “The entire point of the Prime Minister’s initiative was to ensure that minorities are on important decision-making bodies — in positions where they can influence decisions, or as faculty where they can set examples for others,” an official said.