Govt unveils Rs 11,000-cr minority plan

The UPA government plans to spend more than Rs 11,000 crore for minorities in the next five years. The government revealed its action plan "" with focus on eight schemes during the financial year "" in a presentation to the National Advisory Council (NAC) recently.

The Left, a crucial UPA ally, has been criticising the government for not implementing the Sachar committee's recommendations and demanding a sub-Plan for minorities. The most recent criticism was from the CPI(M)'s Central Committee yesterday.

The XIth Plan proposal, prepared by the minority affairs ministry, gives maximum emphasis on education. The budget for three scholarship schemes for minorities has been estimated at Rs 5,559.50 crore, more than half the total proposed expenditure. 
 

KEY SPENDS

Scholarship schemes

Rs 5,559.50 cr

Minorities finance corp

Rs 500 cr

Maulana Azad Foundation

Rs 500 cr

This includes Rs 934.50 crore for a merit-cum means scholarship, and Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 2,125 crore for pre-matric and post-matric scholarships, respectively.

The government also proposed to spend Rs 3,780 crore for "multi-sectoral development programmes."

Maulana Azad Foundation will receive a grant of Rs 500 crore for the next five years and an equal amount will be given to the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation. The Waqf Agency will get Rs 1,000 crore during the 11th Plan period (2007-12.)

The 15-point programme for minorities, revised in June, has also set targets for eight schemes during the financial year. For example, 15 per cent houses under the Indira Awas Yojna are proposed to be built for minorities while 20 per cent teachers appointed for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan will be from among minorities.

After launching two schemes in the education sector "" merit-cum-means scholarship and coaching scheme "" the ministry informed the NAC that pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes would be launched with a budget of Rs 180 crore for this year. These two are expected to benefit 40 lakh students during the XIth Plan period.

To ensure that minorities get easy credit, public sector banks have already been advised to open more branches in minority-dominated areas. The ministry informed the NAC that "lead banks had been asked to campaign for awareness building and organise entrepreneur development programmes."

To promote social inclusion among students, 13 universities across the country have been provided Rs 40 lakh each to start civil rights centres.

Central and state ministries like health, education and home affairs have already advised to post officers from the minority communities in areas where there is a concentration of minorities.