By TwoCircles.net News Desk,
New Delhi: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid have clarified in the Parliament today that the Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) for minority concentration districts (MCDs), launched in 2008-09, is a special area development programme.
In a written reply to Rajya Sabha today, Salman Khurshid said MsDP will address the development deficits in socio-economic parameters and basic amenities identified by a baseline survey. Under it identified development deficits in MCDs would be made up through a district specific plan for provision of better infrastructure for school and secondary education, sanitation, pucca housing, drinking water supply, basic health infrastructure, ICDS centre etc, said the minister.
“MsDP aims at improving the availability of such infrastructure and benefits provided through different Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) by augmenting them. Such infrastructure and benefits are meant for all communities and the programme does not permit any change in the existing CSS guidelines,” the minister said. Only yesterday a national conference on minority welfare schemes in MCDs had urged the central government to allocate 50% of the MsDP fund on educational infrastructure in each MCD.
The minister further said that to ensure that the maximum benefits are given to the minorities in the MCDs, the programme envisages that priority be given for location of infrastructure and benefits in villages/blocks/localities having a substantial minority population.