Najma’s ministry outsources schemes on minority welfare

The Najma Heptullah-headed ministry of minority affairs is outsourcing a raft of its welfare programmes to the private sector. The ministry has tied up with well-known individuals like healthcare expert Dr Naresh Trehan and actor Kamal Haasan for a series of programmes, especially those aimed at imparting job-skills to members of minority communities.

The Najma Heptullah-headed ministry of minority affairs is outsourcing a raft of its welfare programmes to the private sector. The ministry has tied up with well-known individuals like healthcare expert Dr Naresh Trehan and actor Kamal Haasan for a series of programmes, especially those aimed at imparting job-skills to members of minority communities.

Trehan, a leading cardiovascular surgeon, will train women as care-givers, and Haasan will help prepare youth for jobs in the entertainment industry. Both have been roped in under the aegis of Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills (MANAS).

The ministry is also in the process of outsourcing bulk of its skill training to private firm IL&FS.

Similar programmes in retailing and private security involving the private sector are also under way. The salesmanship programme will operate out of Mumbai.

The “outsourcing” model, Heptullah hopes, will help faster transfer of skills to prepare minority youth for jobs. The move, she said, is aimed at fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to quicken the pace of development in the country. “Our job is to make policy. Implementation should be left to experts,” Heptullah said.