Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday asserted that the Modi-Government had empowered minorities “without appeasement” and provided them with jobs, education and skill-based training to ensure that they become beneficiaries of the mainstream development.
Speaking to newspersons here ahead of the NDA Government’s third anniversary on May 26, Naqvi said his Ministry has decided to launch a programme ‘Ustaad Samman Samagam’, marking the birth centenary of BJP-RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, with an aim to encourage artisans from the minority communities and offer them market exposure.
The Minister said his ministry has worked to uplift the minorities by providing them education and skill-based training to ensure that they become beneficiaries of mainstream development.
In comparison to the previous Manmohan Singh dispensation, he claimed the present Government has created more educational infrastructure than its predecessor.
The Minister also announced launch of 'tehreek-e-taleem' (campaign for education) on October 15, the birth anniversary of former president APJ Abdul Kalam, to spread awareness about education among minorities in 100 districts initially.
Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis and Jains are the notified minority communities in the country.
"The steps taken by the Modi Government for the progress of the minorities are a reflection of its empowerment without appeasement policy. It has created an atmosphere of development and trust among the minorities," Naqvi said.
The Minister lauded the Government for making budgetary allocations of Rs 4,195 crore for the development of these communities for 2017-18, a hike of Rs 368.23 crore over the previous fiscal.
Naqvi said 70 per cent of the total allocation has been marked for executing schemes aimed at education and skill development of the minority communities.
lashing out at the previous Congress-led UPA Government, Naqvi alleged it did not open "even a single" degree college for the minorities between 2007 and 2014.
The present Government, he said , has built 33 degree colleges in areas dominated by the communities population-wise, he said.
Between 2007 and 2014, Naqvi said the UPA Government has set up 72 industrial training institutes (ITIs) as against 97 opened by the present NDA Government since 2014, the Minister said.
"While not a single residential school was opened between 2007 and 2014, a total of 18 such schools have been opened in the last three years.
"The National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) has distributed financial assistance to 1,08,588 beneficiaries in 2016-17, while 75,966 people were benefited in 2013-14," Naqvi said.