New law to deal with riots soon: Govt

New Delhi: In the wake of riots in Bareilly and Hyderabad, the Government on Wednesday assured the minorities that it was committed to protecting their interests and said that a new law to deal with communal violence will be put in place by the end of this year.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said the country has witnessed communal violence at various places on the slightest pretext and some of them can be traced back to trivial and petty quarrels that resulted in trauma, fear and insecurity in minority communities and deepening of divide.

"It is therefore an urgent need to dispel any misgiving on the part of the minority community and assure them that the government of India is committed to preserve, protect and promote secular values and provide equality of opportunity to all religious minorities," he said addressing a conference of State Minorities Commissions.

Chidambaram said the Central government was working on a law for prevention, control and rehabilitation of the victims of the communal violence since December 2005 when the bill was referred to a Parliamentary Standing Committee.

"Beginning December 2005, it has been a journey of four year or more. It is likely that the journey will come to an end and it is my earnest hope that before the end of the year, we will have a law for the prevention and control of communal violence and rehabilitation of the victims," he said.

The Home Minister said people must be conscious of the fault-lines that have emerged in Indian society.

"Race versus race, religion versus religion, sect versus sect, language versus language, caste versus caste are the root lines of these fault-lines," he said.

The Home Minister said the challenge before the government was how to govern a country like India with such rich diversities.

"I believe that good governance lies in finding ways and means to erase such fault-lines to a great extent and build bridges among people who find themselves on the either side of the fault-lines. The only way forward is acceptance, accommodation and above all affirmative action," he said.

Referring to the demand of quota by different communities, the Home Minister said reservation was perhaps the most effective instrument of affirmative action.

"If there is a better instrument we should certainly debate that instrument but I believe that reservation is perhaps the most effective instrument that we have today," he said.

Chidambaram said the debate on reservation is an ongoing debate -- what are the limits of reservation, what are the opportunities that are being thrown open by reservation, what are goals that can be achieved through reservation. The debate will not end soon, he said.

He said reservation has three aspects -- the first is the issue of reservation for socially, educationally and economically backward classes which are sanctified in the Constitution, the second is the desirability and need for compartmental reservation and the third is the ceiling on reservation as placed by Supreme Court.

"I think the debate on reservation must take into account all these aspects and we must find ways and means by which reservation can be used as an instrument to advance affirmative action," he said.