Telangana Budget: Minorities treatment on par with SCs in welfare

The government has allocated Rs 1,602 crore in the Budget estimates for 2021-22 for Minority Welfare.

Hyderabad: The Telangana government has decided to ensure same benefits, which are extended to Scheduled Castes, to minorities also under the welfare programmes. The government has allocated Rs 1,602 crore in the Budget estimates for 2021-22 for Minority Welfare.

To enable Minorities progress in education, minority residential schools have been established. In all, 50 per cent of schools are exclusively for girls belonging to Minority community to enable them become self-reliant and stand on their own feet, said Finance Minister T Harish Rao in the State Assembly on Thursday.

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At the time of formation of the State, there were only 12 minority residential schools with meagre facilities. Telangana government increased their number to 204 and provided all the facilities to one lakh minority students.

In this financial year, an amount of Rs 561 crore has been allocated for minority residential schools. In the prestigious educational institution ‘Jamia Nizamia’, a spacious auditorium has been constructed by the government at a cost of Rs 15 crore.

Works for construction of Islamic Cultural Convention Centre in 10 acres will commence shortly. For a group of 100 minority students preparing for civil services examinations, the government is organizing quality training courses at a place and educational institution of their choice.

For 1,684 minority students willing to pursue their education abroad, an amount of Rs.294 crore has been sanctioned under overseas scholarship scheme. Construction of buildings for 54 minority residential schools has been taken up at a cost of Rs 1,054 crore.

The government is celebrating the festivals of Ramzan and Christmas as State festivals on a grand scale. During these festivals, new clothes have been distributed to seven lakh poor Muslims and Christians.

Through Minority Development Corporation, special support is made available to the minorities. Subsidy is being given on the loans taken for self-employment. Under Shaadi-Mubarak, 1,75,924 people were benefitted.

So far, an amount of Rs 1,341 crore has been spent for this. While the amount spent on minority welfare was Rs.812 crore from 2008 to 2014 in the united AP, the Telangana government spent Rs 5,712 crore in the last six years.