‘Our schemes now cover new ground’

Minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday said his ministry was covering new ground, bringing more and more areas under the welfare schemes.

Minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday said his ministry was covering new ground, bringing more and more areas under the welfare schemes.

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“In the last two years, we have left our footprint across the country,” Khurshid said at an event marking four years of the minority affairs ministry.

He said the ministry had started with five schemes and is now implementing 12 schemes. Four more are on the anvil.

He said that the budget allocation of the ministry rose by 50 per cent in 2010-11 in comparison to 2009-10. He added that 98.3 per cent of the budget allocation of Rs 1,740 crore in the last financial year was spent.

Khurshid said 1,759 public sector bank branches were opened in minority-concentrated districts and over Rs 1,80,000 crore was given to minorities under prior sector lending up to 2009-10.

He said fatwas similar to the one in which the seminary held as un-Islamic women working in close proximity with men have had no adverse affect on their plans. “No such announcement has ever proved to be a hindrance to our schemes.”