Ensuring progress of the poor, minorities and Dalits should be the "rajdharma" of governments, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said today and advised ministers from the southern states to focus on the "arithmetic of development" over the "mathematics of votes".
"Progress and prosperity of the poor, weaker sections, minorities and Dalits is not a political formality for us but it should be our duty, our rajdharma," Naqvi said during a review meeting with various state ministers here.
"We should focus on the arithmetic of development and empowerment of the poor people and not on mathematics of votes," the Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs was quoted as saying in a release.
"The day when development agenda dominates political agenda, nobody will be able to defeat us," he told the ministers from Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Reiterating the Narendra Modi government's commitment towards empowerment of poor, minorities and Dalits, Naqvi said the Centre wants that the uplift of these sections becomes a "ground reality" with co-operation of states.
"There will be no shortage of funds for the purpose, but every single penny of public money should be spent on developmental works with complete honesty and transparency," he said.
Listing the schemes being implemented by his ministry, which include Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Yojana, Ustaad, Nayi Manzil and Seekho aur Kamao, he asked the states to take maximum benefit of these programmes.
Naqvi told the state ministers the Centre is reviewing the Prime Minister's 15-Point Programme to make it "more effective" and his ministry is working on a "war-footing" to get the Waqf properties rid of the "clutches of mafias" and has been providing financial assistance to state Waqf boards in this regard.
The Minority Affairs Ministry, in co-operation with state governments, will set up schools, colleges, malls, hospitals, skill development centres, on Waqf land and the revenue generated will be used for educational and other developmental activities for the Muslim community, he said.
Naqvi said that with an aim to provide information about welfare schemes to the members of minority communities, he will start 'Progress Panchayat', from Haryana's Mewat on September 29.
"After the first Progress Panchayat, I will visit various states including those in south India," he added.
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