As per Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, six communities namely Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis have been notified as minority communities. As per Census 2011, the literacy rate of the Minority Communities namely Christians, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists is higher than the National Average of 72.98% except Muslims which is  68.54 %.

Ministry of Minority Affairs implements various schemes/programmes for the socio–economic empowerment of the notified minority communities. The various schemes/programmes being implemented by this Ministry are as under:-.

(A): Educational Empowerment Schemes:

 

(1) Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme- Scholarship is provided to minority students from Class I to X, out of which 30% scholarship are earmarked for girls.

 

Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme- Scholarship is provided to minority students from Class XI to PhD., out of which 30% scholarship are earmarked for girls.

 

 Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship Scheme- Scholarship is provided to minority students for Professional and Technical courses, at Under Graduate and Post Graduate level, out of which 30% scholarship are earmarked for girls.

 

All the three Scholarship schemes are on boarded on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) and the scholarship amount is disbursed through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode.

 

(2) Maulana Azad National Fellowship Scheme – Under the scheme fellowship in the form of financial assistance is provided to minority candidates who clear the UGC-NET or Joint CSIR UGCNET examination.

 

 (3) Naya Savera - Free Coaching and Allied Scheme - The Scheme aims to provide free coaching to students/candidates belonging to minority communities for qualifying in entrance examinations of technical/ medical professional courses and various Competitive examinations.

 

 (4) Padho Pardesh – Under the scheme interest subsidy is provided to students of minority communities on educational loans, for overseas higher studies.

 

(5) Nai Udaan - Support is provided to minority candidates clearing Preliminary examination conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), State Public Service Commission (PSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC) etc.

 (B): Employment Oriented Schemes:

 

(6) Seekho Aur Kamao - Skill development scheme for youth of 14 - 35 years age group and aiming at providing employment and employment opportunities, improving the employability of existing workers, school dropouts etc.

 

(7) USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development). An effective platform to provide self-employment, market and opportunity to traditional artisans and craft persons from the minority communities. Hunar Haats are being organised across the Country to provide employment opportunities and markets to artisans/craftsmen.

 

 (8) Nai Manzil - A scheme for formal school education & skilling of school dropouts or educated in community educational institutions like Madrasas.

 

(9) Nai Roshni - Leadership development of women belonging to minority communities and non-minority communities (not exceeding 25% of each batch).

 

(C): Special Schemes:

 

 (10) Jiyo Parsi - Scheme for containing population decline of Parsis in India.

 

 (11) Hamari Dharohar- A scheme to preserve rich heritage of minority communities of India under the overall concept of Indian culture.

 

(D): Infrastructure Development Programme:

(12) The Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS), identified as Core of the Core Scheme by NITI Aayog, is implemented in collaboration with the States/UTs etc., with the objective of improving socio-economic condition and basic amenities in identified Minority Concentrated Areas (MCAs) mainly through gap filling in various existing CSS and through innovative projects recommended by the State Govts/UTs as per the need of the identified areas. In 2018, the areas covered under PMJVK was increased from 90 Districts originally to 308 Districts in 33 States/ UTs. The MCAs included 870 Minority Concentration Blocks (MCBs) and 321 Minority Concentration Towns (MCTs), 109 Minority Concentration District Headquarters (MCD Hqrs). PMJVK has recently been restructured and approved by the Cabinet on 19.01.2022 for continuation over the 15^th Finance Commission Cycle. The Scheme is now being implemented in all Districts thereby covering every block and town of the Country.

Under the scheme, proposals are sought from the States/UTs/Central Government Organisations where the concentration of minority population is more than 25%  in the catchment area (5 km radius) as per Census 2011 and subsequent Census as and when it takes place, after due certification of State Level Committee/Central Government Organisation. In States/UTs where a notified minority community is in majority, a lower cut off of 15% of the minority population other than that of the minority community in majority, is adopted for the catchment area (5 km radius) where the project is proposed. Priority sectors under the Scheme are education, health, skill development and women centric projects.

(13) Maulana  Azad  Education  Foundation  (MAEF)  implements  education  and  skill related  schemes  as  follows:-  (a)  Begum  Hazrat Mahal  National  Scholarship  for Meritorious  Girls  belonging  to  the  economically  weaker  sections  of  Minorities  (b)  Gharib Nawaz  Employment  Scheme  started  in  2017-18  for  providing  short  term  job  oriented skill development training  to youth (c) Grant-in-aid  to NGOs for infrastructure development of educational institutions.

(14) Equity to National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) for providing concessional loans to minorities for self-employment and income generating ventures. 

The details of the schemes mentioned at S. No.(1) to (12) are available on the website of this Ministry  (www.minorityaffairs.gov.in) and those at serial No.(13) and (14) are available on the website of MAEF (www.maef.nic.in) and NMDFC (www.nmdfc.org) respectively.

There is no State-wise fund allocation under above mentioned schemes.  However, an amount of Rs. 20,997.72Crores (Revised Estimate) has been allocated during the last five financial years for the various welfare schemes of the Ministry of Minority Affairs  i.e. 2016-17 to 2020-21 out of which an amount of Rs. 19,156.65 Crore has been utilised for the above mentioned schemes etc.

In order to improve literacy rate, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Adult Education namely Saakshar Bharat was implemented by Ministry of Education, Department of School Education & Literacy, in the rural areas of 404 districts in 26 States and one UT, that had adult female literacy rate of 50 % and below as per Census 2001, including left wing extremism affected districts, irrespective of their literacy rate, with special focus on women and other disadvantaged groups.

            Under the scheme of Saakshar Bharat, the principal target was to impart Functional Literacy to 70 million non-literates including 12 million minorities.  Around 100.08 million learners (including 9.81 million minorities) appeared in the bi-annual assessment tests conducted by National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) from August 2010 to March 2018, out of which 76.39 million learners (including 7.50 million minorities) had successfully passed the assessment.

            Further, a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Adult Education “Padhna Likhna Abhiyaan” is implemented in rural and urban areas of 33 states/UTs during the financial year 2020-21, with a target of making 48.16 lakh adult non-literates, including minorities, as literates.  The scheme has further been extended upto 31.03.2022.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.

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N Ao//(MoMA_LSQ-1537)

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