‘We’re ahead in minority welfare’

While excusing himself from the Congress party’s social media training camp, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Sunday did attend his other scheduled programme — a conference on “Sachar committee and 12th five-year plan”. Speaking at the function, Mr Chavan claimed that Maharashtra is ahead of all other states in implementing the Sachar committee report. The Union minister of state for human resource development, Jitin Prasada, who was also present at the function, said that the provision for minority welfare has been increased from '7,000 crore in the 11th five-year plan to '12,000 crore in the 12th plan. The 2006 Rajinder Sachar committee report has placed the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims below that of the scheduled castes. The function was organised to review the progress made in Muslim welfare programmes since the Sachar committee report. “It has been seven years since the Sachar committee report was published. In last seven years, Maharashtra has implemented maximum number of recommendations of the committee effectively,” Mr Chavan said. State minority welfare minister Areef Nasim Khan were also present at the function. The Maharashtra CM said, “We cannot leave behind any community while implementing development schemes. Development has to be inclusive and only then can our country achieve real development. In Maharashtra, we have made elaborate efforts to ensure all-inclusive growth.” Mr Chavan further said that the minority welfare department created in 2008 has been implementing various scholarships schemes like '2 lakh aid to minority schools, modernisation of madrasas, strengthening of the Urdu academy, aids for minority dominated villages etc. “Through all these schemes, we are making efforts to empower Muslim community,” Mr Chavan said. Mr Prasada said that in the future, the Indian government is going to focus on Muslim-dominated villages, cities and gram panchayats as part of its efforts to empower the community. “The provision of '7,000 crore was made in the 11th five-year plan for minority development schemes. The amount has been increased to '17,323 crore in the 12th plan,” he said.