Strengthening of Minority Institutions
To streamline record keeping, introduce transparency and to facilitate various functions/processes of the State Wakf Boards (SWBs), Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Wakfs in their 9th Report recommended for computerisation of records of SWBs. JPC also recommended that the SWBs should be financed, as the present level of assistance provided by the State Governments was not only inadequate but also uneven. With the approval of the Government, the Ministry of Minority Affairs is implementing the scheme for Computerisation of records of SWBs which was launched in December, 2009. An amount of Rs. 12.02 crores has been disbursed by the Ministry to National Informatics Centre, 26 SWBs and Central Wakf Council till date for this scheme. Further, an amount of Rs.7 crores was earmarked for the scheme of ‘Strengthening of SWBs’ in the budget of the year 2010-11. ‘In - principle’ approval for the scheme was sought from the Planning Commission but the latter observed that launching the scheme at the fag end of the XIth Plan period is not advisable. Therefore, the scheme is slated for the XIIth Five Year Plan.
A scheme for strengthening State Channelising Agencies (SCAs) of National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) was introduced in 2007-09 with a view to strengthen the infrastructure and performance of SCAs. Further, in order to enable the NMDFC to increase its operations, the Government of India has been providing share capital contribution to NMDFC. The authorized share capital of NMDFC has been enhanced from Rs. 1000 crore to Rs. 1500 crore during 2010-11. To further strengthen the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) and suggest measures to increase its outreach, a consultancy firm was appointed to study the restructuring of NMDFC. The consultant has recently submitted its recommendations.
Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, Shri Vincent H. Pala, Minister of State for Minority Affairs, said that the Corpus Fund of Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF) has been increased from Rs. 200 Crore in 2006-07 to Rs. 700 crore during the Eleventh Plan Period.
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