Home Ministry has zero budget for anti-communal violence wing

In the wake of spurt in communal incidents in some parts of the country, the Home Ministry has woken up finally and is looking for option to fund one of its crucial divisions, which looks after such cases, as it has zero budget during this fiscal. "No fund was allocated to the Human Rights Division of the Home Ministry in the budget for 2015-16. We are now looking for options on how to make funds available to it," a senior Home Ministry official said. The Human Rights Division deals with matters relating to the protection of Human Rights Act, matters relating to national integration and communal harmony and Ayodhya.

There were 330 communal incidents in the country till June 2015 in which 51 people lost their lives. There figure for communal incidents in the corresponding period stood at 252. The Home Ministry is contemplating to set up a body to facilitate interaction between different communities for maintaining communal harmony. "Communal tension takes place due to zero interaction between the communities. If we can provide a platform where community leaders can talk and sort out differences, many of the incidents could be avoided," the official said.