Modi's major minority outreach: Slew of plans to be rolled out soon

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that the government is working on a major outreach to the minorities in the country through a slew of programmes. The scheme will target the minorities of six religions such as Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Parsis and Buddhists.

New Delhi: The Modi government is working on a major outreach towards the minorities in the country through a slew of programmes, including the building of educational infrastructure, encouragement to girls education and expanding the scholarship scheme.

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who is tasked to implement these outreach programmes, said the development mantra for the coming five years will be fully dedicated to minorities. The centre has decided the 3Es model for the development policies

• Education
• Employment
• Empowerment

The schemes will target the six notified minorities --

• Muslims
• Sikhs
• Christians
• Jains
• Parsis
• Buddhists

The minister also laid out some of the benefits of the scheme

• In villages, where there are no schools, colleges and hostels, educational infrastructure will be provided within six months.
• The infrastructure will be funded under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas programme.
• The policy also includes encouragement of girls' education among minorities.
• To avoid dropout among minorities' girls, ‘Padho aur Badho' (read and grow) scheme will be implemented.
• The scheme will focus to ensure zero percent of school drop out among minorities.
• Rs 2.25 crore of Scholarships will be provided through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer).
• The scholarships will be based on pre-matric, post-matric and merit-based.
• Nukkad Naataks' (street plays), short films and ‘chaupals' will be organised to create awareness among the family.
• Religious leaders, prominent leaders of the village will be assigned for creating awareness.
• Employment opportunity for 25 Lakh people will be provided under skill development initiatives.

Talking about the first term of the Modi government, he said several government programmes, like Mudra, housing-for-all, electrification and Ayushman Bharat, had benefitted the minorities in a big way.

Alleging that the previous governments of the Congress were "dishonest", he said, "the minorities have trust that Modiji's ‘Vikas' (development) agenda is not for votes and that we are doing development honestly. When we say development for all, we want it for minorities also. When we say education for all, we mean it for minorities too."