By TCN News,
New Delhi: The central government has provided direct assistance, in the form of loans through National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC), to 3,71,171 unemployed youths of five minority communities in 15 years – from 1994 to March 2009. Vincent H. Pala, Minister of State for Minority Affairs, gave this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on 16th August.
Giving a break-up of the beneficiary communities the minister said that out of 3,71,171, Muslims were 2,81,367, Christians 76,918, Sikhs 11,663, Buddhists 1,219 and Parsis 4.
However, in the last two years, the NMDFC has increased the pace of assistance. From 1st April, 2009 till 30th June, 2011 a total of 3,34,707 beneficiaries belonging to these five minority communities were assisted by the corporation, the minister informed.
NMDFC, functioning under the aegis of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, extends loans to persons belonging to minority communities living below double the poverty line for undertaking self-employment and income generating activities. The target group of NMDFC includes persons belonging to minority communities viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis living below double the poverty line. At present families having annual income less than Rs.55,000/- in urban areas and less than Rs.40,000/- in rural areas are categorized as eligible. Term Loans are provided by NMDFC through the State Channelising Agencies (SCAs). Micro Credit is given to the eligible minorities, organized into Self Help Groups (SHGs), through non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and the SCAs. NMDFC also supports promotional schemes like Vocational Training, Marketing Support and Mahila Samridhi Yojana through the SCAs as well as NGOs.