The state has approved the release of grants for various schemes for the development of the minority community, including modernisation of the madrasa institutions. The decision to allocate funds for various development schemes was taken at a recent meeting by deputy chief minister and finance minister Ajit Pawar, said minister of state for school education Fauzia Khan on Wednesday.
Ms Khan said, “The schemes for the empowerment of students, especially of girls, had been provided funds on priority. It includes `10 crore for improving infrastructure in schools and `10 crore for a project of modernisation of the madrasa institutions.” Apart from this, a sum of `50 crore has also been provided for the Maulana Azad Financial Development Corporation (MAFDC), the minister added.
Various issues pertaining to the minority development department were also discussed in the meeting, the minister said. Ms Khan has asked for additional funds for the MAFDC, so that loans for education and self-employment could be provided to the deserving students of the minority community.
She has also tried to convince the finance minister to provide an additional `1.5 crore for the police pre-recruitment training scheme for the aspirants belonging to the minority community, and to increase the stipend of teachers, who teach Marathi for a meagre salary of `3,000 to `5,000, under the Marathi Language Foundation class scheme. Requests have also been made to allocate funds for schemes involving works like repair work of places of funerals and electricity supply in minority dominated areas.