MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRI K. RAHMAN KHAN)
(a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
Statement referred to in reply to part (a) to (e) of the Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 262
to be answered on 29.08.2013
(a) The details of the welfare schemes for minorities being implemented by the Ministry
of Minority Affairs are given below:
(i) Multi sectoral Development Programme (MsDP): This is an area development scheme aims to
improve the quality of life of the people and reducing 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 cluster 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 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) Equity contribution to National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC):
Under this scheme, 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): Under this scheme, Grant-in-aid
released to MAEF towards its Corpus Fund. MAEF provides Grant-in-aid to the minority institutions
for infrastructure development and distribution of scholarship 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.
(ix) Computerization of records of State Wakf Boards: In order to streamline record keeping
of the waqf lands, introduce transparency & social audit, to computerize the various functions
/processes of the Waqf Boards and to 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.
(x) Nai Roshni:- A scheme for Leadership Development of Minority Women has been launched 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.
(xi) Skill Development Initiative- The Ministry has formulated a new scheme in 2013-14 for
skill development of minorities under the brand name “Seekho Aur Kamao (Learn and Earn)â€.
The scheme aims at upgrading the skills of minority youths in various Modular Employable
Skills (MES) including Traditional trades depending upon their educational qualification,
aptitude and capability, present economic trends and industry readiness. The scheme aims
at 75% employment including 50% in organized sector to the youths trained in MES. The
component of skill up-gradation in traditional trades envisages identification and
collectivization of the minority youths involved in traditional trades into Self Help
Groups (SHGs)/ Producer companies and provide forward (customer access) and backward
linkages (vendor access) including support in getting financial assistance from lending
institutions for self-employment. Ministry has already started the process of implementation
of the scheme during current financial year.
(b) The scheme-wise and State-wise achievements made under various schemes for the last three
years and the current year are given at Annexures I to VIII.
(c) The benefits of the welfare schemes are not reaching fully to the minorities particularly
to the muslims at the grass root level in some States/UTs because some of the State Governments
/UT administrations have delayed the implementation of welfare schemes for the reasons given
below:
(i) Non submission of district plans in time by States/UTs.
(ii) Delay in identification of locations by the State for the projects with substantial
minority population.
(iii) Land availability problem.
(iv) Inordinate delay in transfer of funds by the State Government to the district authority
/implementing agencies.
(v) State share not released by some of the States.
(vi) Delayed identification of implementing agency, and.
(vii) Non submission of utilization certificates on time.
(viii) Non submission of scholarship proposals on time.
(ix) Not forwarding of the Free Coaching proposals before the closing date.
(d)&(e) To ensure the intended benefits are passed on to the targeted minority population
including muslims, the Ministry has restructured MsDP to allow for sharper focus on minority
areas so that assets created are located in blocks/towns with substantial minority population.
In this regards 710 blocks and 66 towns have been identified as unit of implementation of MsDP
for the 12th Five Year Plan.
The progress of implementation of 15PP/MsDP is monitored by a three tier mechanism, the
Empowered Committee at the centre under the chairmanship of Secretary, Minority Affairs
serves as the oversight committee to monitor the progress of implementation on a quarterly
basis. 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. The progress of
implementation of the programme is also monitored by this Ministry with the States/UTs
through regular meetings and conferences as well as personal site visits by the officials.
Besides this, the State Level Committees and District Level Committees, constituted for
implementation of the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme, are the designated Oversight
Committees at the State and District levels in which MPs and MLAs, representatives from
Panchayati Raj Institutions/Autonomous District Councils and representatives from reputed
Non-Governmental Institutions dealing with Minorities are included. The Department dealing
with Minorities of the State/UT monitors the PM’s New 15 PP in State/UT. Further, the State
Governments/UT Administrations are required to submit project-wise quarterly progress reports
on the implementation of MsDP to the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
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) introduced for the Merit-cum-Means scholarship scheme in 2010-11 has now been
extended to Post Matric scholarship scheme in 2012-13.
The performance of MAEF and NMDFC are monitored by the Ministry through regular quarterly review
meetings. The computerization for online processing of applications for scholarships and grants-
in aid to NGOs has been implemented in MAEF.
Multimedia campaigns i.e. publicity through electronic and print media are carried out with
priority to Minority Concentration Districts for dissemination of information about the Schemes,
are some of the measures for increasing awareness/coverage among the target beneficiaries the of
minorities including Muslims.
