File Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi
The Centre has not earmarked separate funds for 'Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities', an RTI query has revealed.
"There is no separate budget for 'Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities' and instead it is executed by specific monitoring of flow of funds to minorities or areas with a substantial minority population under different schemes" the Ministry of Minority Affairs said in reply to an RTI query.
A Moradabad-based activist had asked for information about schemes related to the 15 Point Programme which had been launched by the UPA-I government in 2005.
It is an important programme in which schemes and initiatives of various departments and ministries, including the Minority Affairs Ministry, are covered, the ministry said.
On the programme, Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said, "There is no separate budget since the beginning for the programme as it covers schemes of different ministries. The government is committed to the welfare of minorities and to ensuring that the benefit of these programmes reach the poor and deprived."
According to the RTI, the ministry is taking forward the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) which aims to improve the living standard of minorities by creating socio-economic infrastructure and providing basic amenities.
In 2014-15, the ministry issued a total of Rs 770 crore for different states under MSDP till March 2015.
According to the RTI, 24 schemes of 11 ministries are covered under the programme.
Seven schemes of the minority ministry were covered under the programme, including Post-Matric scholarship scheme, Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme, Merit-cum-Means Scholarship scheme, Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students, the ministry said.
This programme covers four schemes of the HRD Ministry, one scheme of Ministry of Women and Child Development, two of Rural Development Ministry, three schemes of Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, among others, it said.