New Delhi, Oct 26 : Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singhhas today said that the government was making efforts to convince the Supreme Court about the need for reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in higher education.

Addressing a national conference on ‘Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies’, Singh said: “Reservation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in higher education is very desirable. We should be able to convince the Supreme Court what India wants and the efforts in this regard have to be pursued with dedication”.

Singh said that the conference was being held at an opportune time when the deliberations at the conference can help the policies to become inclusive, eventually giving a roadmap to further the commitment of removing discrimination in every sphere of life, including social and cultural, economic and the political as well as extreme case of violence.

He further said that policies formulated by our founding fathers of the Constitution to do away with the discrimination faced by marginalised sections of the population such as SCs, STs ,OBCs, women and religious minorities such as Muslims have yielded good results in social and educational development but advancement made here is still falling short of the expectations of that section of the society.

“There needs to be done a lot,” said Singh.

The legislation to provide 27 percent reservation for OBCs in elite educational institutions, including IITs and IIMs, from the current academic session, was stayed by the apex court.

He also shared his experiences at a recently held UNESCO conference at Paris.

The time has come UNESCO should come forward with practical solutions and face the reality around the globe without any discrimination, said Singh.

The two-day conference has been organised by Indian Institute of Dalit Studies (IIDS) in collaboration with Princeton University, USA.

This conference is of significant importance as it will address the most important problem being faced by vast section of population, namely SC, ST, OBC, religious minority like Muslim and women and currently being discussed in the academic and government circles.

This is the first conference of its kind which will discuss through presentation of papers the economic discrimination faced by discriminated groups in various market and non market transactions.

This will include employment market in rural and urban areas, occupation and business, various factors market, services, and also education and health.

Most of the papers are based on original research and will bring new insight on the theme of market and non market discrimination.

Based on the insights from the papers, the conference will also discuss policies to overcome the discrimination. (ANI)