Bihar Govt’s apathy toward minority welfare schemes

By Manzar Bilal, TwoCircles.net,

Patna: When Nitish Kumar came to power in 2005, he promised to work for the welfare of the downtrodden especially Muslims. Now that his government is about to complete its tenure and assembly election is scheduled later this year, his government has come up with a brochure highlighting his ‘works’ in the last four and half years for the minority community. But have a cursory look at the brochure and you will find how the state government has regularly cut allocation for minority welfare projects.

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TCN received the brochure from a secretary of the Department of Minority Welfare in the state capital. The booklet has details about the minority welfare schemes of the state government but the details themselves tell the story of apathy by Nitish government toward the minority community.

The state budget for financial year 2010-2011 has Rs 61 crore for the Department of Minority Welfare to spend on several schemes. The details of allotted amount for some of the minority welfare programs in the last three years clearly say that the government has continuously cut the allocation for such schemes.

Amount in lakh

When we look at the above table, we find that the amounts for almost all schemes have been reduced every year or there was no increase in that. It is also notable here that though documents show the amounts allotted for the schemes, there is no information about how much of them has been used and how much is lying or was returned unused.

There are some minority institutions that are working under the Department of Minority Welfare. The amount for these institutions has also not been increased. Instead, it has been cut for some.