Andalib Akhter /NEW DELHI
Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said that he was pleased with “Empowerment of minority without Appeasement.” He said that Modi government “Empowerment without Appeasement” policy has created an “atmosphere of development and trust” among Minorities.
Talking to media persons in New Delhi on the achievements of the Ministry of Minority Affairs during three years of NDA regime, Naqvi said that the ‘Government has been successful ‘in bringing the poor, backward and weaker sections of the Minorities into the mainstream of the development through “3E”- Education, Employment and Empowerment.
He said that programmes such as “Garib Nawaz Skill Development Centre”, “Usttad”, “Nai Manzil”, “Nai Roshni”, “Seekho aur Kamao”, “Padho Pardes”, “Progress Panchayat”, “Hunar Haat”, multi-purpose “Sadbhav Mandap”, “PM’s new 15 point programme”, “Multi-sectoral Development Programme”, “Begum Hazrat Mahal Scholarship” for girls, have ensured development of every needy person belonging to the Minority communities.
Minister said that his ministry will launch two schemes for minorities this year. He said that ‘Tahreek Taleem’, or Campaign for Education will be launched on the birth anniversary of former president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam on 15th October 2017. 100 districts have been identified for the campaign. The other scheme will be the USTTAD Samman Samaroh to be launched during Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya birth centenary under which the artisans and craftsmen of the Minorities will be honoured.
FOLLOW INDIAN AWAAZ ON TWITTER
The Minister said that Government has increased Budget of the Minority Affairs Ministry to Rs 4195.48 crore for 2017-18, which is Rs 368.23 crore more than the 2016-17 Budget of Rs 3827.25 crore. In 2012-13 the budget of the Ministry was Rs 3135 crore, in 2013-14 Rs 3511 crore, in 2014-15 Rs 3711 crore and in 2015-16 the budget was Rs 3713 crore. He said that about 70 per cent of the 2017-18 Budget, will be spent on programmes/schemes aimed at educational empowerment and skill development of Minorities.
Naqvi said that the Modi Government was committed to provide quality education to students belonging to Minority communities and keeping this in mind, the Ministry of Minority Affairs is establishing 5 world class educational institutions which will provide education in technical, medical, Ayurved, Unani across the country.
A high-level committee, constituted on 10th January, 2017 to frame roadmap including places where these institutes will be established, will soon submit its report. “Our target is to start academic session in these institutes from 2018. We have proposed 40 per cent reservation for girls in these institutions. About 100 Navoday Vidyalaya type schools will also be opened in Minority concentrated areas in the coming months”, he said.
During the last three years, the Ministry has created infrastructure development projects such as 33 Degree Colleges; 1102 school building; 15,869 additional class rooms; 676 hostels; 97 ITIs; 16 Polytechnics; 1952 drinking water facilities; 8532 Aanganwadi Centres; 2090 health centres; 223 Sadbhav Mandaps (during last 6 months); 18 Gurkul type residential schools. Besides, 47,986 pucca houses have been constructed under PM Awas Yojana.