By Tarique Anwar, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: The educational schemes run by the state government for the students of minority community are becoming victim of the lenience of the state officials. The State Minority Financial Corporation was made responsible for issuing funds for these schemes.
Asked about development on different schemes announced by the government for students belonging to minority community, Corporation’s Managing Director Iftekhar Hassan told TwoCircles.net that the file of the scholarship schemes have been forwarded and the Corporation is waiting for final nod from the minority welfare department.
In addition to this, there are two more schemes – ‘Mukhya Mantri Sharam Shakti Yojna’ and free coaching schemes for preparation for entrance examination for professional courses like medical, engineering, management – are lying in cold storage. Many concerned officers also have no information about these schemes. Had these schemes been implemented thousands of Muslim students would have benefited.
The principal secretary of the department who is also secretary for home affairs, government of Bihar, has more burden of the work of the home department. He is also responsible for implementation of minority welfare schemes, but the officers working under him in the department of minority welfare do not want to do anything which is causing loss to minorities.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced ‘Mukhya Mantri Sharam Shakti Yojna’ to remove educational backwardness from the minority community in 2007-08. Under this scheme matriculate students were to be given professional training. Those who are pursuing ITI courses were to be given Rs 1000 as maintenance fee in addition to their admission fees. This scheme also includes a sum of Rs 50,000 to the students passed successfully their course to make them self employed. The department has already handed over 3 crores in March this year for this purpose but there is no implementation of these schemes.
The government has also planned to give scholarship to those students who are doing medical, engineering and the department has sent Rs 2 crore to Minority Financial Corporation. The department has also sent additional Rs 2 crore for coaching schemes to crack entrance examination of medical, engineering, management, and to qualify in banking and railways recruitment examinations.
There is also a plan to give Rs 10,000 for coaching and Rs 5,000-10,000 for scholarship schemes to the students doing professional like medical and engineering and if it is implemented then four thousand students would be benefited.
But what is disappointing is that the officers assigned the task of implementation of all these schemes are not aware of their details. In this situation schemes of the government have become the beauty of files.