Minority Coordination Committee demands a provision of Rs. 1 lakh crore annual budget for minorities in India.
India Tomorrow
AHMEDABAD—Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) convener Mujahid Nafees has that the Ministry of Minority Affairs budget for 2024-25 is disappointing.
In a media statement, Nafees said that the budget for the year 2024-25 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is Rs.4820512.08 crores, an increase of about 1% compared to last year.
Of this, the budget for MoMA is merely Rs.3183.24 crores, which is approximately 0.0660% of the total budget. In the year 2021-22, the budget of the Ministry of Minority Affairs was Rs.4810.77 crores, and Rs.5020.50 crores was proposed for 2022-23. Last year, in 2023-24, it was Rs.3097.60 crores.
The central government has reduced the budget for important schemes which are as follows.
*Reduction of 106.84 crores in Pre Matric Scholarship Scheme, an Increase of 80.38 crores in the post-matric scheme, a reduction of 10.2 crores in the merit-cum-means scheme, a reduction of 50.92 crores in Maulana Azad Fellowship Scheme, reduction of 40 crores in coaching scheme, reduction of 5.70 crores in Interest Subsidy, Zero provision in UPSC preparation scheme.
*One crore reduction in the budget of Qaumi Waqf Board Taraqqiyati Scheme, no provision at all in Skill Development Initiative Scheme, no provision in Nayi Manzil Scheme, no provision in Minority Women Leadership Development Scheme, no provision in Ustad Scheme, no provision in Nayi Manzil Scheme, no provision in Hamari Dharohar Scheme, 40 crore reduction in PM Virasat Ka Samvardhan Scheme, no provision in Central Share in National Minority Finance and Development Corporation, 8 crore reduction in Educational Scheme for Minorities and Madrasas, 1 crore reduction in the budget of National Minority Commission, 1 crore reduction in the budget of linguistic minorities, no provision for Maulana Azad Foundation, 310.90 crore increase in PMJVK has been proposed.
The above figures show the difference between last year’s and this year’s budget estimates.
“This shows that the government is discriminating against the minority community. The government does not want the minority community of India to progress on the path of development. The Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) considers this budget to be discriminatory and demands that at least Rs. One lakh crore should be allocated in the Union Budget as per the population as a special provision to uplift the backward community”, Nafees said in the statement.
