New Delhi, February 02, 2022 (PPI-OT):In the Budget 2022-23, although the Indian Government has increased the allocation for the minorities, but the increased budget has failed to meet the expectations of the communities as it is unlikely fulfill their needs. Presenting the Budget, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed an outlay of Rs 5,020.50 crore for the Ministry for Minority Affairs, an increase of Rs 674.05 from the last year’s Rs 4.346.45 crore.
While commenting on the allocation for the Ministry for Minority Affairs, Qasim Rasool Ilyas, member of All Indian Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMBPL), said, “The Budgetary allocation has been distributed in three categories. While a major share of Rs 1,425 crore has gone to pre-matric scholarship, post-matric scholarship and skill development have got Rs 515 crore and Rs 491 crore, respectively.”
“The rest of the money,” he guessed, “would be put into the corpus funds of Maulana Azad Foundation and others. It is not meant for the minorities, but some things that are run through the interest of the corpus fund.”
Ilyas, who is also the president of Welfare Party of India, regretted that the Budget does not allocate anything for socio-political development of the minorities. It only allocates funds for its old functions.
“We had expected the government to allocate some amount for socio-economic development, training, and creating employment opportunities in this budget. As far as the allocation for skill development is concerned, the Rs 491 crore is insufficient as the project is too big. I feel the amount allotted for it is far too little to fulfill the expectations,” he said.
Citing the Sachar committee report, he said in view of the backwardness of Muslims in the country, the allocation is too little to stand up to the expectations of the community. A large amount is used for the corpus fund, the interest of which is used to do some official works. It does not help in the development of the minorities, he lamented.
The Budget is silent on the development of Minority Concentrated Districts (MCDs), a scheme initiated during the tenure of Manmohan Singh. The aim of the scheme was to develop such districts to achieve certain welfare goals. He said if only some amount was set aside for the Waqf properties, it would have generated employment opportunities for the minorities. What’s more, the Budget is also silent on Waqf Development Authorities formed with a view to develop waqf properties and spend its income on the development on the minorities.
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