Lok Sabha Question No. 324 (STARRED), answered on 2021-03-18
Subject: Schemes for Welfare of Minorities
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: Thomas Chazhikadan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. *324

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.03.2021

## SCHEMES FOR WELFARE OF MINORITIES

## *324.    SHRI THOMAS CHAZHIKADAN:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of existing schemes for welfare of minorities in the country;
- (b)  whether  the  communities  have  been  identified  and  recognized  as  minorities  for such schemes at the National level or State/UT- wise; and
- (c)  the  funds  allocated  for  minority  welfare  schemes  in  Kerala  during  the  last  three financial years, community-wise?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

(SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)

- (a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

*****

Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (c) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No.*324  to  be  answered  on  18.03.2021  asked  by  Shri  Thomas  Chazhikadan regarding 'Schemes For Welfare of Minorities'

- (a)  &  (b):          The  Government  is  implementing various schemes for the welfare and upliftment of every section of the society including minorities especially economically weaker & downtrodden sections all over the country with schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY), Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN), Pradhan Mantri UjjwalaYojana (PMUY), Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana (PMAY), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Yojana, etc.

Ministry of Minority Affairs also  implements programmes/ schemes for socio-economic and  educational  empowerment  of  the  six  (6)  centrally  notified  minority  communities namely Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains and Muslims. These schemes/programmes in brief are as under:-

## Educational Empowerment schemes:

- (1)  Pre-Matric  Scholarship  Scheme,  Post-Matric  Scholarship  Scheme,  Merit-cumMeans  based  Scholarship  Scheme  -  For  educational  empowerment  of  students through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT ) mode.
- (2)  Maulana  Azad  National  Fellowship  Scheme  -  Provide  fellowships  in  the  form  of financial assistance.
- (3) Naya Savera - Free Coaching and Allied Scheme - The Scheme aims to provide free coaching to students/candidates belonging to minority communities for qualifying in entrance examinations of technical/ professional courses and Competitive examinations.
- (4) Padho Pardesh - Scheme of interest subsidy to students of minority communities on educational loans for overseas higher studies.
- (5)  Nai  Udaan  -  Support  for  students  clearing  Prelims  conducted  by  Union  Public Service Commission (UPSC), State Public Service Commission (PSC) Staff Selection Commission (SSC) etc.

## Economic Empowerment/ Employment Oriented schemes:

- (6)  Seekho  Aur  Kamao  -  Skill  development  scheme  for  youth  of  14  -  35  years  age group and aiming at improving the employability of existing workers, school dropouts etc.
- (7) Nai Manzil - A scheme for formal school education & skilling of school dropouts.
- (8) USTTAD  (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) .

## Special Initiative for Empowerment :

- (9) Nai Roshni - Leadership development of women belonging to minority communities.
- (10) Jiyo Parsi - Scheme for containing population decline of Parsis in India
- (11) Hamari Dharohar- A scheme to preserve rich heritage of minority communities of India under the overall concept of Indian culture.

## Area Development Programme:

- (12)  Pradhan  Mantri  Jan  Vikas  Karyakram  (PMJVK)  earlier  known  as  MsDP  Implemented for the benefit of the people from all sections of the society in identified Minority  Concentration  Areas  for  creation  of  assets  in  education,  skill  and  health sectors.

## Support to Institutions:

- (13)  Maulana  Azad  Education  Foundation  (MAEF)  implements  education  and  skill related  schemes  as  follows:-  (a)  Begum  Hazrat  Mahal  National  Scholarship  for Meritorious  Girls  belonging  to  the  economically  weaker  sections  of  Minorities  (b)

Gharib  Nawaz  Employment  Scheme  started  in  2017-18  for  providing  short  term  job oriented skill development training  to youth (c) Bridge Course for madarsa students & school dropouts.

(14) Equity to National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) for providing concessional loans to minorities for self-employment and income generating ventures

In addition to the above, the Ministry also implements schemes for strengthening  State  Waqf  Boards  and  coordinates  arrangements  for  annual  Haj pilgrimage.

The details of the schemes (S. No.1 to 12)  mentioned above  and status of their implementation are available on the website of this Ministry (www.minorityaffairs.gov.in) and those at serial No.(13) and (14) are available on the website of MAEF (www.maef.nic.in) and NMDFC (www.nmdfc.org ) respectively.

Post 2014, the  Government  has taken the following new  initiatives for development of all minorities.

- (i) Nai-Manzil: Nai Manzil Scheme was launched on 8th August, 2015 at Patna, Bihar and was fully rolled out in the year 2016-17. The Scheme aims to benefit the minority youth, who do not have  formal school leaving certificate, i.e. those in the category of school-  dropouts  or  have  been  educated  in  community  education  institutions  like Madarsas  and  others,  by  providing  them  formal  education  and  skill  training  thus enabling them to seek better employment and livelihoods.
- (ii)  Hamari  Dharohar  which  is  a  Central  Sector  scheme  has  been  formulated  to preserve rich heritage of minority communities of India. The objectives of the scheme are to curate rich heritage of minorities under overall concept of Indian Culture, curating exhibitions, preservation  of literature/  documents  etc.,  support  and  promotion  of calligraphy etc. and Research & Development.

(iii) USTTAD (Upgrading  the  Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/ Crafts for Development) was formally launched on 14 th May, 2015 at Varanasi (U.P.).

The scheme aims at capacity building and upgrading of the traditional skills of master craftsmen and artisans; documentation of identified traditional arts/crafts of minorities; set  standards  of  traditional  skills;  training  of  minority  youths  in  various  identified traditional  arts/crafts  through  master  craftsmen;  develop  national  and  international market linkages; and preservation of languishing Arts/Crafts.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has launched a Mission under 'Upgrading the Skill and Training  in  Traditional  Arts/Crafts  for  Development  (USTTAD)'  scheme  to  give  an effective platform to minority artisans and culinary experts from across the country to showcase and market their finest handicraft and exquisitely  crafted  products  through 'Hunar Haats' organized by the Ministry. Ministry has engaged institutions of national repute  namely,  National  Insitutte  of  Fashion  Technology  (NIFT),  National  Institute  of Design (NID) and Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) to work in various craft clusters for design  intervention,  product  range  development,  packaging,  exhibitions  and  brand building etc. So far, 27 Hunar Haats have been organized at Delhi, Puducherry, Mumbai,  Prayagraj,  Jaipur,  Ahmedabad,  Hyderabad,  Indore,  Ranchi, Lucknow,  Rampur,  Mysuru  and  Bhopal.   As  a  result  of  this,  more  than  5.5  lakhs artisans  and  people  associated  with  them  have  been  provided  employment  and employment opportunities, out of which more than 50% beneficiaries are women.

The Government has increased the coverage of  PMJVK scheme from 766 MCAs of 196 districts which were covered under the scheme of erstwhile MsDP, to 1300 MCAs falling in 308 districts of the country, which includes 870 Minority Concentration Blocks, 321 Minority Concentration Towns and 109 Minority Concentration Districts Hqrs with effect from May, 2018

The  type  and  number  of  projects  approved  are  Residential  Schools  (171),  Degree College Buildings (32), New School Buildings (1535), Additional Class Rooms (22908),

ACR Blocks (356), Teaching Aid & Smart Classes (9999), Hostels (646), ITI Buildings (92), Polytechnics (13), Health Centres & other Health Projects (1946), Unani Medical College  (01),  Working  Women  Hostel  (23),  Anganwadi  Centres  (6014),  Sadbhav Mandaps (403), Common Service Centres (157), Market Sheds (574), Hunar Hubs (9), Sports Facilities (13).

The  Budget  of  the  Ministry  has  also  increased  from  Rs.3511  crore  in  2013-14  to Rs.4700 crore in 2019-20.

A  comparative  statement  indicating  achievements  in  respect  of  various  Schemes before 2014-15 and since 2014-15 is given at Annexure.

(c): State-wise and community-wise fund allocation under the schemes is not made in the Budget. Since 2014-15, about 44.21 Lakh beneficiaries benefitted under various schemes  in  the  Kerala  state  for  which  an  amount  of  Rs.  2027.45  crore  have  been sanctioned/released.

During the last three years i.e 2017-18 to 2019-20 about 22,09,027 beneficiaries in the State of Kerala have been benefitted under various welfare schemes of the Ministry for which funds to the tune of Rs.1152.52 crore have been sanctioned/released.

Under PMJVK, in Kerala State,  since 2014-15 to till date the projects of Rs   Rs.112.32 crore  have  been  approved  including  Additional  Classrooms  (12),  Common  Service Centres (9), Drinking Water Supply Projects (15), Health Projects (4), Hunar Hub (2), Industrial  Training  Institute  (1),  Market  Sheds  (2),  School  Buildings  (52),  Working Women Hostel (3), and Toilets (17) whereas before 2014-15 the projects of Rs.56.64 crore    were  approved  including  Additional  Classrooms  (196),  Drinking  Water  Supply Projects (4), Health Projects (29) and School Buildings (4) and under the scheme.

Further,  the  area  coverage  under  PMJVK  in  Kerala  state  has  been  increased  w.e.f May 2018 to cover 73 MCAs in 13 districts whereas earlier the area coverage was 05 MCAs in 2 districts.

Further,  under  PMJVK  projects  of  Rs.  8661.16  lakh  have  been  approved  in  Kerala during  last  three  years.  The  projects  approved  include:-  Skill  Centre-02,  School Building-30,Working  women  Hostel-02,Toilet  blocks-17,  Health  related  projects-01, Common Service Centre-09, Additional Class Rooms-10, ACR Blocks-01, Hunar Hub02, ITI-01 and Market Shed-02.

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## Annexure referred in reply to Parts (a) & (b) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. *324 for answer on 18.03.2021 raised by SHRI THOMAS CHAZHIKADAN

| Comparative achievements under various schemes of Ministry of Minority Affairs before 2014-15 and since 2014-15.   | Comparative achievements under various schemes of Ministry of Minority Affairs before 2014-15 and since 2014-15.   | Comparative achievements under various schemes of Ministry of Minority Affairs before 2014-15 and since 2014-15.   | Comparative achievements under various schemes of Ministry of Minority Affairs before 2014-15 and since 2014-15.   |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.                                                                                                             | Name of the                                                                                                        | Achievement                                                                                                        | Achievement                                                                                                        |
|                                                                                                                    | Schemes                                                                                                            | Before 2014-15                                                                                                     | Since 2014-15                                                                                                      |
| 1.                                                                                                                 | Educational Empowerment (Schemes mentioned at S.No.1-5 &13 (a))                                                    | 3.03 crore beneficiaries                                                                                           | Above 4 crore beneficiaries                                                                                        |
| 2.                                                                                                                 | Employment- oriented skill development programme (Schemes mentioned at S.No.7-9 & 13(b))                           | 20,164 beneficiaries                                                                                               | 6.89 lakh beneficiaries                                                                                            |
| 3.                                                                                                                 | Financial Assistance for self Employment (Scheme mentioned at S.No.14)                                             | 6.94 lakh beneficiaries                                                                                            | 8.50 lakh beneficiaries                                                                                            |
| 4.                                                                                                                 | Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK)                                                                         | Budget Allocation Rs.5341.78 crore                                                                                 | Budget Allocation Rs. 8167.96 crore                                                                                |
| 4.                                                                                                                 | Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK)                                                                         | No. of Major projects approved 31329                                                                               | No. of Major projects approved 44218                                                                               |

|   5. | Haj Matters   | Haj Quota in 2014 1,36,020 (With subsidy) Women Hajis were not allowed to go for Haj without Mehram (male companion).   | Haj Quota in 2019 2,00,000 (Without Subsidy) Women Hajis w.e.f Haj 2018 now can go for Haj without Mehram (male companion). Since 2018, 3401 women have performed Haj without Mehram   |
|------|---------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|    6 | Hunaar Haats  | There was no such scheme for employment or employment opportunities for traditional artisans /craftsmen                 | 27 Hunar Haats have been organized and more than 5.5 lakhs artisans and people associated with them have been provided employment and employment opportunities                         |