The Ministry of Minority Affairs will provide about Rs.120 crore  relief and rehabilitation  package for  the victims of Jammu and Kashmir floods under various schemes of the Ministry.  Announcing the package here today, Dr. Najma A.Heptulla, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs said that this is not only new but also a special initiative keeping in view the calamity and need of the people facing it. She made the announcement while interacting with media on new initiatives of the Government. The package includes --

                The Minister and all other officers/staff of the Ministry will contribute One Day Salary for the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

Besides this special initiative,the Ministry has re-oriented its strategy for Minorities in tune with the priorities of the new Government. The priorities are - Education, particularly girls’ education;  Equal opportunities in education and employment; Livelihood and Entrepreneurial opportunities; Modernization of Madarsas; Strengthening  of Waqf Boards; Augmentation of skills in traditional arts/crafts; Preservation of rich heritage of minorities and Development of inter-faith consultative mechanisms.

Accordingly, within last three months, the Ministry took initiatives either to formulate new schemes to meet priority agenda of the Government or to reorient existing programmes , she said.

Explaining various initiatives and related queries the Minister commented on various issues-

Ministry focuses on educational empowerment with skill development. During 2014-15, Ministry may award approximately 90 lakh (9 Million) Scholarships under Pre-matric, Post-matric, Merit-cum-means based Scholarships with an approximate amount of Rs. 1700 Crore. Moreover,  the Direct Benefit Transfer in the bank account of students has also been operationalized in respect of Post Matric and Merit-cum Means Scholarships from 2014-15. Minimum 33% scholarships are earmarked for girl students.

India is known for its traditions and culture. Minority communities in India are known for their traditional skills, arts and crafts. But due to forces of competitive market and globalization, and also due to deteriorating socio-economic condition of master craftsmen/artisan, these skills are not being pursued by the young generation.  Government of India is of firm conviction that these arts/crafts are needed to be preserved. There is a need to augment traditional arts and entrepreneurial skill which are the backbone of cottage and small scale industry and establish better market linkages, enhance branding and ensure access to credit.

To conserve traditional arts/crafts of our Country and for building capacity of traditional artisans and craftsmen belonging to minority communities, a new scheme namely “USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development)” has been formulated. The scheme has already been approved. This scheme on one hand will conserve the traditionalarts/crafts of the country and on the other hand it will ensure dignity of labour.

Ministry is giving focus to Skill Development of Minorities by giving priority to “SeekhoaurKamao (Learn & Earn)” scheme. This scheme guarantees minimum 75% employment of trained minority youths and out of them 50% will be in organized sector. Ministry has sanctioned skill development training of more than 24,364 minority youths in 29 States through 51selected expert skill development organizations.

Under Multi-sectoral Development Programme also, which is implemented through State Governments, skill development of 1.00 lakh minority youths has been targeted during 2014-15. Under MsDP, Ministry has already sanctioned the Skill Development training programmes for more than 95,000 minority youths so far during current financial year.

Under MsDP, Ministry has started implementation of a new project called “Cyber GramYojana” to promote digital literacy of minorities. Ministry has taken an initiative to develop 100 Cyber Madarsas for digital literacy of minorities during 2014-15.

Ministry has also formulated a new scheme namely, “HamariDharohar”, to preserve rich heritage of minority communities of India under the overall concept of Indian culture. It is in advance stage of approval as per procedure.

To provide an avenue to the students of madarsas for mainstream education, Ministry has formulated a new scheme called “NaiManzil” which may bridge the gap between Madarsa Education and the mainstream education. During 2014-15, Ministry has targeted education of 3000 madarsa students through 5 (five) selected institutions namely, Aligarh Muslim University, JamiaMillia, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), IGNOU and Maulana Azad National Urdu University.

Ministry has targeted selection of 1500 minority students for Free Coaching for Engineering and Medical Entrance Examination. Ministry has already sanctioned coaching to 1150 students.  Success rate of 30% has been envisaged in the scheme.

Ministry is making efforts to establish a “KhwazaGarib Nawaz Senior Secondary School” at Ajmer (Rajasthan) through Maulana Azad Education Foundation, to give a fillip to minority education. Dargah Committee has already provided the land for the purpose.

National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) extends loans at concessional interest rates for self-employment activities to deprived sections of minority community. To enhance the outreach and leverage more funds, Ministry intends to bring a new “Interest Subvention Scheme”with the brand name “Taxila Scheme” of NMDFC which may be operationalized through Nodal Bank(s).

As per an estimate, Waqf properties (about 6 lakh acres in the country), if developed commercially, can generate annual revenue of about Rs. 12,000 Crore. As the first important step in the direction, ‘One Project’ will be launched through newly formed National Waqf Development Corporation Ltd. (NAWADCO).Lands have already been identified with State Waqf Boards in Bengaluru, Delhi and Bhopal. AMemorandum of Understanding (MoU) has also been signed between NAWADCO and National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) on 8^th September 2014 for this purpose.

In tune with “Jan DhanYojana” announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister of Independence Day, Ministry has furnished a list of 710 Minority Concentration Blocks and 66 Towns to Department of Financial Services to keep in focus for opening of Bank accounts.

The Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) of the Ministry during 12^th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) has increased about 2½ times over GBS of 11^th Plan (2007-2012). For the 12^th Plan, the GBS is 17,323 Crore, whereas it was 7,500 Crore in 11^th Plan. 

For 2014-15, the annual outlay is Rs. 3,711 Crore. Out of that, Rs. 1,130 Crore have already been sanctioned. About 950 Crore have been sanctioned in the last three months. 

Ministry of Minority Affairs was established on 29^th January 2006 with a vision for socio-economic empowerment of Minorities to strengthen India’s “Unity in Diversity”. “सबका साथ,सबका विकास”

Ministry is mandated to ensure socio-economic development of 6 (six) notified minorities namely, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains, and create enabling environment for equal opportunities for them.

Shri Lalit K. Panwar, the Secretary of the Ministry made a power point presentation on the occasion.

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