New Delhi, July 21: Government has earmarked Rs 31.5 crore in the current financial year towards minority education as compared to Rs 28.35 crore in 2002/03. An official release today said the plan outlay for the Area Intensive and Madarsa Modernisation Programme (AIMMP) has been raised from Rs 115 crore in the ninth plan to Rs 160 crore in the tenth plan. This programme caters to development of school infrastructure in the areas where there is large concentration of educationally backward minorities.

While Central governments gives cent per cent financial assistance to state governments and voluntary organisations, grants are given to madarsas for their modernisation under this programme, the release said. The National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) would spend Rs 9.75 crore in 2003/04 as compared to Rs 9.5 crore last year, it added.

Bureau Report