Rs 17,000 cr to be spent for uplift of minorities

Siddharth Nagar: To remove socio-economic and educational backwardness of minorities, the Centre has decided to spend Rs 17,000 crore in the 12th five-year plan, Union Minister for Minority Welfare K Rehman Khan said Friday.

He told reporters that of the 72 recommendations made by the Sachar Committee for welfare of Muslim community, 69 have been implemented by the Centre. Three could not be implemented due to technical reasons. Khan said that on the basis of Sachar committee report 15 per cent Muslims would benefit from various schemes, including MGNREGA, India Awas and child development project under 15- point programme of the Prime Minister. He said the ministry was directly operating scholarship from pre-primary up to technical level and 15 per cent quota of minorities have been fixed in loans given by banks. He said that for integrated development of Muslim-dominated areas, the Centre has so far selected 98 districts where development work has started under multi-sectoral plan. The minister said in the current five year plan the scheme was being expanded in 700 blocks and 40 towns of 195 districts. He said Rs 7,400 crore would be spent on this in the next five years. Khan said for the welfare of minorities the Centre gave Rs 1,000 crore to Uttar Pradesh in the previous five year plan whereas Rs 1,400 crore would be given in 12th plan. PTI