AIMMM president Feroze Ahmad Advocate said resource allocation should be made in line with the diverse needs of minority communities across different sectors
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM), the umbrella body of India’s Muslim organisations and eminent personalities, has expressed concerns over the complete neglect of the minority communities in the general budget.
In a statement issued on Monday, Mushawarat said no mention was made by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about the development of minorities during her budget speech.
Mushawarat president Feroze Ahmad Advocate said unemployment, inequality and inflation were the major issues that impacted the results of the recent Lok Sabha elections. “When we talk about budget allocation for marginalised communities such as minorities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, disabled persons, gender and children, the situation is not encouraging in the budget,” he said.
Dr. Javaid Alam Khan, a member of the organisation and an expert on socio-economic affairs, said: “No serious effort has been made to address the inflation and unemployment-related challenges in this budget.”
The Mushawarat emphasises that despite the low development indicators of minorities, there was a drastic decline of 38 per cent in the previous year’s budget (a decrease of Rs 1,913 crore from 2022-23) for the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MoMA). For the last few years, MoMA has not been able to utilise funds against the budgetary allocations. The ministry spent Rs 3,998.57 crore out of Rs 5,029.10 crore and Rs 4,325.24 crore out of Rs 4,810.77 crore in 2020-21 and 2021-22, respectively. Actual expenditure of Rs 802.69 crore was incurred out of the Rs 5,020.50 crore outlay in 2022-23.
“When we talk about the budget allocation for marginalised communities such as minorities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, disabled persons, gender and children, the situation is not very encouraging in this budget,” the Mushawarat statement said.
The AIMMM recommended that the total budget allocation for MoMA should be significantly increased, given the level of deprivation in the educational attainment of minorities. “All the scholarship schemes should be made demand-driven, along with additional financial resources to enhance unit costs and revision in the eligibility criterion related to parental income. The schemes which have been discontinued should be revived. Under the 15-Point Programme, resource allocation should be made in line with the diverse needs of minority communities across different sectors,” it said.
