Telangana Congress government fails to deliver promises made to minorities: Report

Association for Socio-Economic Empowerment of the Marginalised exposes Congress government's lack of commitment towards minorities in a report

Hyderabad: Even after 15 months, the Congress government has failed to deliver the promises made to the minorities in Telangana. Right from students, scholars, unemployed youth and women, different sections of minorities feel that they have been deceived by the Congress.

Before the Assembly elections in 2023, the Congress had promised the moon to minorities. But even after more than a year, and with the second annual Budget to be presented in a few days, the minorities continue to get raw deal in allocation and release of funds under different programmes.

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The Association for Socio-Economic Empowerment of the Marginalised (ASEEM) exposed the Congress government’s lack of commitment towards the minorities in a report, after it conducted a study on the promises and assurances given by the government to minorities and implementation of the same during the last one year. Here is what the report says:

Post-Matric Scholarship under Reimbursement of Tuition Fee
Before the elections, the Congress promised fee reimbursement for students from SC, ST, BC and minority communities, besides clearing old dues. Under the Post-Matric Scholarship under Reimbursement of Tuition Fee, during the 2020-21 financial year, Rs 206 crore was allocated and Rs 136.99 crore was spent. Similarly, during 2021-22, Rs 206 crore was allocated and Rs 204.99 crore was spent. However, in 2024-25, after the Congress government came to power, Rs 300 crore was allocated, but only Rs 225 crore was released. Of these, Rs 41.86 crore was spent up to January 2025. Apart from financial crisis, the students were facing an untold misery as their original certificates were being withheld by the college management, citing fee dues.

Chief Minister’s Overseas Scholarship Scheme
Similarly, under the Chief Minister’s Overseas Scholarship Scheme, the Budget allocation increased from Rs 62.53 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 130 crore in 2024-25. However, of the Rs 130-crore allocations, Rs 97.5 crore was released and Rs 76.49 crore was spent. While, expenditure under the scheme was recorded at 94.24 per cent in 2020-21 and 97.93 per cent in 2021-22, it declined to 58.84 per cent in 2024-25. This is a clear underutilisation of funds by the Congress government.

Shaadi Mubarak scheme
The BRS government launched the Shaadi Mubarak scheme and extended Rs 1,11,800 to brides as a means to ease the financial burden on families. The delay in releasing the funds subjected the families to a lot of problems. Hoping that the funds would be released, many families were being forced to take hand loans or borrow money from private financiers. However, there is a delay in the release of funds and the families were being harassed by the financiers, besides suffering lot of humiliation.

Minorities Welfare Budget
Tall promises were made that the minorities welfare budget would be increased to Rs 4,000 crore and a dedicated Minorities Sub-Plan would be launched. While the Congress government announced a Budget allocation of Rs 3,000 crore, the budgetary allocation for the bank-linked subsidy was Rs 300 crore. Till December 2024, not even a lakh was spent and Rs 3 crore was spent on salaries. Regarding the Sub-Plan, the budget for minority welfare lacks legal backing and, as a result, optimum utilisation of funds was not possible against the sanctioned funds. Despite repeated appeals from the community over the Sub-Plan, there was no discussion.