NDTV:
New Delhi: Monday, 20 July 2015.
The Centre
has not earmarked separate funds for 'Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme
for the Welfare of Minorities', an RTI query has revealed.
"There
is no separate budget for 'Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme for the
Welfare of Minorities' and instead it is executed by specific monitoring of
flow of funds to minorities or areas with a substantial minority population
under different schemes" the Ministry of Minority Affairs said in reply to
an RTI query.
A
Moradabad-based activist had asked for information about schemes related to the
15 Point Programme which had been launched by the UPA-I government in 2005.
It is an
important programme in which schemes and initiatives of various departments and
ministries, including the Minority Affairs Ministry, are covered, the ministry
said.
On the
programme, Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said,
"There is no separate budget since the beginning for the programme as it
covers schemes of different ministries. The government is committed to the
welfare of minorities and to ensuring that the benefit of these programmes
reach the poor and deprived."
According to
the RTI, the ministry is taking forward the Multi-Sectoral Development
Programme (MSDP) which aims to improve the living standard of minorities by
creating socio-economic infrastructure and providing basic amenities.
In 2014-15,
the ministry issued a total of Rs. 770 crore for different states under MSDP
till March 2015.
According to
the RTI, 24 schemes of 11 ministries are covered under the programme.
Seven schemes
of the minority ministry were covered under the programme, including
Post-Matric scholarship scheme, Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme, Merit-cum-Means
Scholarship scheme, Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students, the
ministry said.
This
programme covers four schemes of the HRD Ministry, one scheme of Ministry of
Women and Child Development, two of Rural Development Ministry, three schemes
of Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, among others, it said.
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