![]() The more they come out the better they will be able to compete with others. The problems for Muslim girls are more because they have to face challenges inside their home/community and outside for education. By and large, 50% of problems girls face are common across classes. Therefore, they have better opportunities, and we should facilitate them to achieve it. There is no reservation for minorities but there is reservation for girls. This shows that the number of girl students is increasing even in co-education schools. Recently, I was invited to felicitate 185 meritorious Muslim students. You emphasized on not just educating Muslim girls but also encouraging them to take up key jobs. Slashing funding of minorities won’t allow them to be on a level playing field. Creating an equal opportunity is the first step towards bringing the marginalized into the mainstream. The government must try and create an equal playing field for everyone and thereafter, bring them into the mainstream. Article 46 clearly defines the government’s obligation towards citizens. ![]() It is the government’s duty for the social and economic development of every citizen. The constitution deals with the citizens and the government. But slashing funds of welfare schemes is injustice. Muslims don’t want any special treatment but to be treated equally. The government will have to reach out to them. The government shouldn’t wait for the minority population. It is the constitutional duty of the government to win their confidence and bring them into the mainstream. The country can’t move forward by keeping 15% of the minority population backward. What will be the impact of these moves? A. The question here is of intent - whether they really want to educate minority students or not. If a director is not there for minorities, the students are on their own to approach the Central government to seek benefits of schemes. We have directorates for social welfare and tribals. If you don’t have any agency for minorities, how will the funds be utilized. But there is no similar agency for Muslims. The social welfare department runs SARATHI or Mahajyoti for OBC students. Funds for SC students goes through BARTI. If the government doesn’t have a proper plan to execute it, how are the funds going to be utilized? There is no state level agency to do it. The government’s response is that the given funds are not utilized. It is the duty of the government to utilize the entire fund by reaching the beneficiaries. The government is expecting beneficiaries to reach for it without creating any mechanism for them. This means the government has failed to control the drop-out percentage among minorities. The reason given by the ministry of minority affairs for slashing funds is that the number of beneficiaries has decreased. Such welfare schemes were implemented under the 15-point PM programme based on the Sachar Committee report. Their budget allocation has been downsized to Rs10 crore this year from Rs160 crore last year. They are primary schools in Muslim areas. Madrassa doesn’t mean religious institution. These benefited a lot but now the government has stopped them. Another important scheme, the Maulana Azad National Fellowship, aided higher education beneficiaries. Pre-matric scholarship was introduced because there was a largescale drop-out among Muslim kids. We need to first understand what is meant by utilization. Have funds allocated for minority schemes remain underutilized? A. ![]() He also speaks about new initiatives being undertaken by community intellectuals in this interview with TOI. Well-known lawyer Firdos Mirza questions the claim and stresses on the root causes. The government claims the funds have remain unused as the number of beneficiaries have declined. The revised estimates for 2022-23 stands even lesser at Rs 2,612 crore. The total budget allocation for minorities is down to Rs3,097 crore from Rs5,020 crore last year. Ahead of the Budget, some scholarships too were discontinued for Muslim students. The overall allocation of funds for minority communities was drastically slashed by 38% in this year’s Union Budget.
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