Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithaman addresses the press conference after presenting the Union Interim Budget 2024 at Parliament, at the National Media Centre, in New Delhi on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Budget Estimate for the Union Minority Ministry remain almost unchanged with marginal increase for a couple of schemes and programmes. The budget allocation for the ministry has been increased from ₹3,097.60 crore in the financial year 2023-24 to ₹3,183.24 crore for 2024-25.
The Revised Budget for the Minority Ministry in 2023-24 was ₹2,608.93 crore.
The budget for Quami Waqf Board Taraqqiati Scheme and Sahari Waqf Sampati Vikas Yojna, was ₹17 crore in 2023-24, while the Revised Budget remained ₹8 crore. The government still allocated ₹316 crore for the same in the financial year 2024-25. These schemes are meant to implement the Computerisation of Records, Strengthening of State Waqf Boards and to protect vacant urban Waqf land from encroachers apart from developing it on commercial lines for generating more income in order to widen welfare activities, respectively.
The budget for total education empowerment of minorities was slightly decreased, nearly ₹125 crore, reportedly due to cancellation of scholarship schemes like pre-metric as well as the Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF).
The Right to Education Act (RTE Act) covered compulsory education up to Class 8 for all students which is why the pre-metric scholarship was cancelled, said the government in its response in Parliament. The scheme in its new form only covers students of Classes 9 and 10. Smriti Irani, Minister for Minority Affairs, had told the House that the MANF was scrapped as it overlaps with various other fellowship schemes for higher education implemented by the government which also covers students from minorities.
Also read: Key takeaways from interim Budget 2024-25 in charts
The Education Scheme for Madrasas and Minorities has been slashed to ₹2 crore from ₹10 crore in the last budget. The revised budget in the category was ₹5 crore.
The allocation of ₹910 crore has been made under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakaram (PMJVK), which was ₹600 crore for 2023-24. The objective of the PMJVK is to address the development, deficits in the selected Minority Concentration Areas (MCAs i.e. identified districts headquarters blocks/towns/clusters of villages having substantial minority population which are relatively backward). The Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) has been restructured and revamped for implementation as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakaram.
