MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (DR. NAJMA A. HEPTULLA)
a) The details of the welfare schemes and development programmes intended for the benefits of the persons belonging to the minority communities in the country are as given below:
i. Multi Sectoral Development Programme (MsDP): - This is an area development scheme which aims to improve the quality of life of the people and reduce imbalances in the Minority Concentration Districts (MCDs). Identified development deficits are addressed through a district specific plan with provision of infrastructure creation for schools, sanitation, pucca housing, drinking water and electricity supply, besides beneficiary oriented schemes. The focus of this programme is on rural and semi-rural areas of the identified 90 Minority Concentration Districts. The scheme has been restructured for implementation during 12th Five Year Plan. Block has been made the unit of planning in place of district, the programme has been expanded to minority concentration towns/cities and clusters of minority concentration villages. The restructured programme covers 710 Minority Concentration Bocks (MCBs) & 66 Minority Concentration Towns (MCTs) covering 196 districts of 26 States in the country. This would sharpen the focus on minority concentration areas.
ii. Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme:- Under this Scheme, scholarships are awarded to minority students up to class X, who have secured not less than 50% marks in the previous final examination and the annual income of their parents/ guardian from all sources does not exceed Rs. 1.00 lakh. 30% of the scholarships are earmarked for girl students.
iii. Post-matric Scholarship Scheme:-Under this Scheme, scholarships are awarded to minority students from class XI onwards who have secured not less than 50% marks or equivalent grade in the previous final examination and the annual income of whose parents/ guardian from all sources does not exceed Rs.2.00 lakh. 30% of the scholarships are earmarked for girl students.
iv. Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students: - The objective of the Fellowship is to provide integrated five year fellowships in the form of financial assistance to minority students to pursue higher studies such as M.Phil and Ph.D. The Fellowship covers all Universities/Institutions recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC). 30% of the Scholarships are earmarked for the girl students.
v. Merit-cum Means based Scholarship: - The Merit-cum means based Scholarship Scheme provides financial assistance to the poor and meritorious minority students pursuing professional studies at graduate and post-graduate levels. 30% of the scholarships are earmarked for girl students.
vi. Free Coaching and Allied Scheme: - Under this scheme, candidates belonging to the minority community are provided financial assistance for coaching in Government and the private sector institutes for imparting coaching/training for Competitive Exams, Information Technology and other employment oriented courses. 30% of the scholarships are earmarked for girl students.
vii. National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC):- Government contributes equity capital to NMDFC for implementation of its schemes at concessional rates of interest which are viz. micro financing scheme, term loan, educational loans, skill development and Mahila Samridhi Yojana etc.
viii. Grant-in-aid to Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF): - Grants-in-aid are released to MAEF towards its Corpus Fund. MAEF provides Grant-in-aid to the minority institutions for infrastructure development and distribution of scholarships to the minority girl students studying in classes XI and XII. The expenditure on these schemes is met out of the interest earned on the Corpus Fund. Till date, amount of Rs.910 crore has been released towards the corpus fund of MAEF.
ix. Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme: The Scheme aims to provide annual health check-up of students studying in institutions aided by Maulana Azad Education Foundation and also provides financial assistance upto Rs.2 lakhs for minority students for serious illnesses studying in institutions aided by Maulana Azad Education Foundation.
x. Computerization of records of State Wakf Boards: In order to streamline record keeping of the Waqf lands, introduce transparency & social audit, computerize the various functions/processes of the Waqf Boards and develop a single web based centralized application, computerization of the records of the State Waqf Boards is carried out with the help of Central financial assistance.
xi Establishment of National Waqf Development Corporation for the development of Waqf properties in the country.
xii Nai Roshni:- A scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women has been launched from 2012-13 with the objective to empower and instill confidence in women, by providing knowledge, tools and techniques to interact with Government systems, banks, and intermediaries at all levels so that they are emboldened to move out of the confines of home and assume leadership roles. The scheme is implemented through Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).
xiii Seekho Aur Kamao: - The Ministry has launched “Seekho Aur Kamao (Learn and Earn)” a new 100% Central Sector Scheme for Skill Development of minorities in September 2013. The scheme is implemented by private professional skill development organizations/companies. The scheme ensures employment of minimum 75% trained candidates, and out of them 50% in organized sector. The scheme reserves minimum 33% seats for minority women.
xiv. Jiyo Parsi:- Jiyo Parsi is a new scheme for containing population decline of Parsis in India, that has been launched during the current year 2013-14 with the objective to reverse the declining trend of Parsi population by adopting a scientific protocol and structured interventions to stabilize their population and increase the population of Parsis in India. Ministry extends financial assistance for outreach programme/ advocacy and fertility treatment as per scheme guidelines. The scheme is implemented with assistance from Parzor Foundation with the help of Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP).
xv. “Nalanda Project” is a Pilot Project for Development of Faculties of Minority Universities/ Minority Managed Degree Colleges (MMDCs) and higher educational institutions located in minority concentration areas, launched on 3rd March 2014 at Aligarh Muslim University, the Nodal Staff College of University Grants Commission.
xvi. “Minority Cyber Gram” was launched for Digital literacy of Minorities in collaboration with Digital Empowerment Foundation in PPP Mode at village Chandauli, District Alwar, Rajasthan on 19.02.2014. Total 2,600 villagers have been targeted under this pilot project.
xvii. Support for Minority students clearing Prelims conducted by Union Public Service Commissions, Staff Selection Commission, State Public Service Commissions. The objective of the scheme is to provide financial support to the minority candidates clearing prelims conducted by Union Public Service Commissions, Staff Selection Commission, State Public Service Commissions to adequately equip them to compete for appointment to Civil Services in the Union and the State Governments and to increase the representation of the minorities in the Civil Services by giving direct financial support to candidates clearing Preliminary Examination. There is no State/UT wise allocation under this scheme.
xviii. Further Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for Welfare of Minorities is an overarching programme which covers various schemes of concerned Ministries/Departments either by earmarking15% of physical targets/financial outlays for the minorities or by specific monitoring of flow of benefits/funds to areas with substantial minority population. Presently 24 Schemes implemented by 11 Ministries/ departments including 7 Schemes of Ministry of Minority Affairs, are covered under this programme.
(b) & (c) The funds allocated by the Government for implementation of these programmes during the last three years and the current year, State-wise including Jharkhand are placed at Annexures I to VI. The details of unutilised funds during this period State-wise are placed at Annexures VII to VIII. Under MsDP, the reasons for under-utilisation of funds are delay in fixing of executing agency by the State, delay in release of funds by the States to the implementing agency, non-availability of land in some cases etc. Under Scholarship Schemes, the funds could not be released due to non-receipt of utilisation certificates for funds released earlier to the States/UTs and also on account of receipt of proposals lower in value than the anticipated amount from the States/UTs.
(d) The Ministry has commissioned the evaluation of the schemes of Pre-Matric Scholarship, Post-Matric Scholarship, Merit-cum-Means Scholarship, Maulana Azad National Fellowship, Free Coaching and Allied Scheme and Leadership Development of Minority Women in 2012-13. The draft reports have been received. MsDP has been evaluated in 2011-12. The final report was received in 2012-13. An Evaluation Study of MsDP was conducted by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). The outcome of the evaluation study was conducted by this Ministry during the restructuring of MsDP for implementation in the 12th Five Year Plan. The schemes of National Minorities Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC) have been evaluated during 2011-12 and final report has been received.
(e) and (f) Government has taken following steps to ensure that these benefits reach the intended beneficiaries:
i) MsDP has been restructured for its implementation in 12th Five Year Plan. In the restructured MsDP, the unit area of planning has been changed to blocks/towns/clusters of villages instead of district for sharper focus on the minority concentration areas. The programme has now identified 710 Blocks & 66 Towns for implementation during 12th Plan.
ii) There is a robust mechanism for monitoring the implementation of MsDP. Block Level Committee for MsDP is responsible for monitoring the programme at the block level. The District and State Level Committees for PM’s New 15 Point Programme are responsible to review the progress of implementation of the programme at the District and State levels. Further the Empowered Committee at the Centre serves as the Oversight Committee and monitors the implementation of the programme at the national level. The progress under MsDP is also reviewed on half yearly basis by the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) along with the PM’s New 15 Point Programme. The Committee of Secretaries observations are reviewed by the Union Cabinet on six monthly basis. Monitoring is also done through Conferences at the National, Regional, State and District levels as well as through visits of officials to the project sites.
iii) The Scholarship Schemes have been restructured to allow for greater transparency and accountability during processing and sanction. To help evaluation of flow of benefits, segregated data for the different minority communities has now been sought from all Ministries under the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme and the States/UTs have also been requested to provide better and timely feedback. The scholarship schemes are reviewed regularly through interaction with the State Governments at regular intervals and field visits by the Ministry officials. The Online Scholarship Management System (OSMS) earlier introduced for the Merit-cum-Means scholarship scheme has now been extended to Post Matric scholarship scheme.
iv) Multimedia campaigns i.e. publicity through electronic and print media are advertised with greater publicity in Minority Concentration Districts for dissemination of information about the Schemes, and for increasing awareness/coverage among the target beneficiaries of the minorities.
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