Gujarat’s civil rights organization, Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) has regretted that the state government, in its budget for 2020-21, presented in the state assembly last week, has allocated just about 0.066% of the total allocation for the state’s minorities, even though their population is 11.5% in the state.
Of the total budget of Rs 2,17,000 crore, MCC said in a letter to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, there is allocation of Rs 101.35 crore for social services for minorities, Rs 1.51 crore as capital account of social service, Rs 1.50 crore as loan amount for the Gujarat Minorities Finance and Development Corporation, and apart from some other minor allocations.
Demanding that an allocation of Rs 8,320 crore should be set aside for Gujarat’s minorities, the MCC letter signed by its convener Mujahid Nafees said, this should include a fund of Rs 1,000 crore for the creation of a new minority affairs department, and Rs 250 crore for a new state commission for minorities.
Then, MCC said, Rs 1,500 crore should be allocated for the Multi-Sectorial Development Programme (MsDP) for minorities, Rs 2,000 crore for education, empowerment, skill development and livelihood and other special programmes for minorities, and Rs 1,500 crore as special financial package for the upliftment of minorities.
MCC said, Gujarat’s minority population of 11.5%, includes Muslims 9.7%, Jains 1.0%, Christians 0.5%, Buddhists 0.1% and others 0.1%, regretting, 10.18% of Muslim girls drop out at the primary level in Gujarat.
Pointing out that unemployment rate among the minorities is continuously increasing, MCC said, minorities in Gujarat are “far behind others in the field of development, they lack protection, and there is a need of concrete steps immediately for them.”
