Union minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Thursday that the BJP government at the Centre has ended appeasement and vote bank politics in the country and worked on the principle of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ in literal terms..
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government is working with the commitment to ‘inclusive growth’ and ensured that all sections of the society, including minorities, were becoming an equal partner of development process,” Naqvi said while addressing ‘Vikas Samanvay Baithak’ (Development Coordination conference) of nine states and UTs, organised in Lucknow.
The Union minister said that the Modi government has ended ‘appeasement and vote bank politics’, which continued for the last several years. Our government has been working focussing on ‘empowerment without appeasement’ and ‘development with dignity’ for ‘inclusive growth’ through coordination-communication with the states.
The meeting was inaugurated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and attended by Minority Affairs and Social Welfare Ministers of nine states and UTs, concerned Secretaries and other senior officials.
The conference was organised with the objective of taking stock of various educational, skill development, scholarships schemes meant for minorities, to get state governments’ suggestions so that these welfare schemes could be implemented more effectively at the ground level and the benefits reached to the needy.
The Union minister said that most states have been working well regarding implementation of schemes meant for minorities. Other states should also follow them.
Naqvi said that the Ministry of Minority Affairs was working with commitment to welfare of minorities through ‘3E - Education, Employment, Empowerment’.
“The Modi government has kicked out middlemen and ensured that benefits of welfare schemes reached directly to the needy through a transparent system,” he said.
Naqvi informed, “Minority Affairs Ministry has completely become online and more than 280 Inspecting Authorities of the ministry were working as ‘watchdog’ of various development and welfare schemes being run. They have ensured 100 per cent honest and transparent implementation of these schemes at ground level.”
The Union minister said that proper implementation of various schemes from skill development to educational empowerment to scholarships like ‘Garib Nawaz Skill Development Scheme’, ‘Seekho aur Kamao’, ‘Nai Manzil’, ‘Begum Hazrat Mahal Girls scholarship’, ‘Nai Udaan’, ‘Padho Pardesh’, ‘Free Coaching’, ‘Ustaad’, ‘PM’s new 15-point programme’ etc have been ensured with cooperation of these Inspecting Authorities.
Mentioning the achievements of Minority Affairs ministry, Naqvi said that 27 Gurukul-type residential schools have been constructed across the country.
“During the last about 3 years, under Multi Sectoral Development Programme in minority-dominated areas, 10,649 drinking water facilities, 32,000 additional class rooms, 1,817 school buildings, 15 degree colleges, 169 ITIs, 48 polytechnics, 248 multi-purpose community hall ‘Sadbhav Mandap’, 1064 hostels have been constructed for educational empowerment,” he informed.
During the last three years, about 2 crore 42 lakh minority students were provided scholarships. This year, more than 1.5 crore students have applied for pre-matric, post-matric, merit-cum-means and other scholarships given by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.