The Ministry of Minority Affairs
constituted a Committee on 05.08.2013 under the Chairmanship of Professor
Amitabh Kundu of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi primarily to evaluate
the process of implementation of decisions taken by Government of India on the
recommendations of Sachar Committee and to assess the efficacy of the Prime
Minister’s New 15 Point Programme, and to recommend interventions and
corrective measures in policies and programmes. The Committee has since submitted
its Report on 09.10.2014.
The Report was examined in this
Ministry. In the meeting held on 23.01.2015, the recommendations of the
Committee were discussed in detail and it was decided that the views of the
concerned Ministries/ Departments should be obtained. Accordingly, the
recommendations have been sent to all the concerned Ministries/ Departments and
NITI Aayog. Their response is awaited.
The Amitabh
Kundu Committee has observed that available financial resources and physical
targets have been meagre in relation to the deprivation of the minorities,
especially Muslims, and for some of the schemes this meagre amount has not been
fully utilised and this requires that allocation of resources to the Ministry
of Minority Affairs be increased. With regard to the schemes of the Ministry of Minority
Affairs, the Committee has recommended, inter alia, that there is a
need to make the number of scholarships demand-driven, allocation under
Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) need to be increased and allocation for Leadership Development
Scheme for Minority Women needs to be substantially enhanced.
The budgetary allocation of Ministry of Minority Affairs has been
increased from Rs.7,000 crore in the 11th Five Year Plan to Rs.
17,323 crore in the 12th Five Year Plan. The allocation and
expenditure during the 12th Plan on the major schemes of the
Ministry are as under:
(Rs. in crore)
|
Year-wise allocation and expenditure
during 12th Plan
|
|
|
Scholarship/ Fellowship schemes
|
Jan Vikas Karyakaram (Multi-sectoral Development Programme)
|
Nai Roshni – Leadership Development for Minority
Women
|
Total Plan Expenditure/ outlay
|
|
|
R.E.
|
Actual Exp.
|
R.E.
|
Actual Exp.
|
R.E.
|
Actual Exp.
|
R.E.
|
Actual Exp.
|
|
2012-13
|
1386.60
|
1359.76
|
649.56
|
641.26
|
12.80
|
10.45
|
2200.00
|
2158.00
|
|
2013-14
|
1843.54
|
1788.59
|
958.53
|
953.48
|
14.74
|
11.95
|
3111.00
|
3007.49
|
|
2014-15 (provisional upto 31.01.2015
|
2079.50
|
1747.76
|
770.94
|
754.93
|
14.00
|
12.19
|
3140.00
|
2722.67
|
R.E. –
Revised Estimates
The
Budget Estimates of the plan schemes of the Ministry of Minority Affairs for
the current year 2014-15 was Rs.3711 crore. Ministry of Finance, after
reviewing the expenditure upto September, 2014 of this Ministry in the pre-budget
meeting, revised the allocation to Rs.3140 crores in the Revised Estimates. Since
there was no cut imposed on the Scholarship schemes, the allocation of other
schemes have been reduced accordingly. The actual expenditure incurred till
31.01.2015 is Rs.2722.67 crores (provisional), which is 87% of the Revised
Estimates.
This
Information was given by the Minister of Minority Affairs, Dr. Najma Heptulla
in Rajya Sabha today.
AT/Uma