commentary
How Not to Do Minority Welfare
Kashif-ul-Huda
While the union budget for
2009-10 raised the allocation
for minority welfare, the funds
remain a pittance compared
to the extent of backwardness
and discrimination faced by the
minorities. Further, political
disinterest and ingrained
prejudices in sections of the
bureaucracy often lead to
diversion of funds and unspent
amounts. The government needs
to show greater political will
while citizens need to monitor
these schemes at the grass roots.
Otherwise these schemes will
remain crumbs thrown at a
hapless section of India’s citizens.
Kashif-ul-Huda (kashif@urdustan.com) is the
editor of an Indian Muslim news web site
Two Circles.net
Economic & Political Weekly  EPW   september 5, 2009  vol xliv no 36
I
n the budget for the 2009-10 financial
year, the government of India has al-
located Rs 1,740 crore to the Ministry
of Minority Affairs, a whopping 74%
increase from the pervious year’s alloca-
tion of Rs 1,000 crore. But before one
yells “minority appeasement”, consider
that this amount, earmarked for the wel-
fare of about 20% of the nation’s popula-
tion is just 17% of the total budget. The
National Minorities Commission Act,
1992 has noti­fied who comprise the
minority communities of India. Muslims
are 73% of the minority population, while
Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and
others make up the rest. Therefore, a
majority of the welfare schemes for mi-
norities are designed keeping in mind the
educational and economic needs of the
Muslim communities.
Combining the outlays to the Ministry
of Minority Affairs, the assets of the
Maulana Azad Education Foundation and
the National Minority Development
F­inance Corporation (NMDFC), the central
government spends about Rs 5,000 crore
annually on welfare of Muslims. Now
let us take this amount of Rs 5,000 crore
and divide that by the estimated Muslim
population in India, which is about
15 crore. What we get is a paltry sum of
Rs 333 per capita. Even if the top 20%
of the Muslim population by income is
considered rich enough to not require
support, we get the figure of Rs 417 per
head being allocated by the government.
If this amount is spent pro­perly it would
lead to some benefit to the community.
But government schemes designed for
minorities are rarely implemented with
any sincerity and often funds meant for
minorities are diverted.
Sabotaging Minority Schemes
A few examples from Assam would illus-
trate the manner in which money allo­cated
to minority welfare is diverted to areas and
projects that will not directly benefit the
minorities. In Chamguri, Nagaon district
which has only 4% minority population
Rs 6.5 crore was allocated for the con-
struction of a 100 bed hospital, while
Rs 50 lakh was allocated for Kaliabor
Co­llege, in an area which has only about
19% mino­rity students. Similarly, Rs 4
crore was allo­cated for an Industrial
Training Institute in Nagaon which has
10% minority students and which was
already getting funded under a World
Bank scheme.
This diversion of funds is possible
because the minority affairs ministry
itself makes it possible. For instance, in a
letter dated 26 December 2008, an under-
secretary at the ministry notifies the
sanctioning of an amount of Rs 63 crore
for Barpeta district of Assam. The letter
directs the accounts officer under the
ministry to release Rs 31 crore under vari-
ous schemes meant for the minorities in
Barpeta. Copies of this letter are sent to
the concerned departments of the Assam
government. For each of the projects that
are sanctioned, the ministry issues in-
structions for the state government. This
is where it gets interesting and shows
what mechanisms exist for legally divert-
ing funds away from the minorities.
For the housing scheme titled Indira
Awas Yojana, the ministry directs “the State
will ensure that 20 below poverty line
(BPL) families per village in 50 villages
per block having the highest proportion
of minority population would be selected.”
So, a “creative” administrator can easily
identify villages and families with non-
minority population as long as the block
itself has a high number of minority
populations. If there is any confusion, a
second guideline gives such “creativity”
the legal cover it requires. It states that
the “BPL families figuring in the wait list,
even if they belong to communities other
than the minority communities, would
be selected in the order of their ranking
in the list”.
In other words, funds allocated for
minorities are released by the Ministry of
Mino­r ity Affairs with instructions that it
can and should be spent on non-minorities
on the basis of some other wait list that
has nothing to do with the ministry itself.
This clearly seems to be against the
govern­ment’s own “Guidelines for Prepara-
tion of Multi-Sectoral District Develop-
ment Plans for Minority Concentration
19
commentary
Districts” where Clause 7.1 (iii) reads:
“…the funds provided for the minority
concentration districts are additional
resources for these districts do not sub­
stitute state government funds already
flowing to the districts”.
Of course, this instruction is not unique
to Barpeta. Similar instructions have
accom­panied all the grant-in aids released
by the minority affairs ministry for 2008-
09. All the local administrators have to
show that the block or village they have
selected has a sizeable minority popula-
tion. Yet the building of schools, toilets,
aangan-wadi resources and water hand-
pumps may not actually end up benefiting
the minorities at all.
Low Credit Flow
The NMDFC, set up in 1994, focuses on the
economic development of minorities. It
provides funds to minorities for self-­
employment and education, among other
things. With a share capital of Rs 850
crore, it has the power to engender posi-
tive changes among the discriminated
minorities, specially Muslims, by increas-
ing entrepreneurship through targeted
loan schemes.
Unfortunately, it has been able to
raise only Rs 676 crore out of its total
promised capital of Rs 850 crore. Sixty-
five per cent of the share capital is the
government of India’s responsibility, 26%
the contri­bution of state governments
and union territories and 9% is supposed
to be contributed by organisations and
individuals interested in minorities’
welfare. While the government of India
has met 98% of its contribution promise,
only 59% of the state government contri-
butions are in. The most pathetic aspect
is that out of the Rs 76.50 crore expected
contributions from organisations and
individuals, only Rs 1  lakh has been
raised thus far. Among the states, only
Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and West
Bengal have paid 100% of their contribu-
tions. Some of the worst offenders are
Punjab which has paid only 20% of its
promised contribution, Tamil Nadu with
only 35% paid up and Uttar Pradesh,
which has paid up a measly 19% of its
promised contribution.
Even this Rs 676 crore could have an
impact for the better for the minorities if
20
their schemes are properly implemented, Hostages to the SCAs, both these flag-
but this seems hardly to be the case. The ship schemes – term loan scheme and
NMDFC depends on the state channelising micro­finance scheme – have been imple-
agencies (SCAs) which are nominated by mented erratically. Out of 27 states and
the state governments. Having to work union territories that participated in the
through SCAs impacts the effectiveness term loan scheme, only Kerala shows
of the NMDFC’s programmes. It also has a some consistency in distributing money
network of about 200 non-governmental under this scheme. Figures for all
organisations (NGOs) throughout India to the other states show inconsistency of
reach its intended populations. Ninety- parti­cipation. Sixteen states have zero
six per cent of the funds disbursed by distribution in one or more years. Bihar,
NMDFC is through the term loan scheme for example, distributed Rs 8 crore in
which makes available a loan of up to 2004-05, nothing in 2005-06, and Rs 3
Rs   5 lakh. The corporation annually dis- crore in 2006-07. Another example is
burses, on an average, Rs 10 crore under Uttar Pradesh, which has not distributed
this scheme. Over the past five years it any money since 2006-07! Similar is
has benefited 1,47,820 people distribut- the case with NMDFC’s microfinance
ing a total of Rs 57 crore. The microfi- scheme. Nineteen states had one or
nance scheme of the corporation has dis- more years of no disbursement at all.
tributed a further Rs 6 crore, benefiting Clearly, since the success of the corpora-
79,781 people in the last five years. tion’s schemes is dependent on the coop-
The Ranganath Misra Commission eration of the state mechanisms and the
report had this to say about the NMDFC: NGOs, the NMDFC does its part to keep
them happy.
…the total flow of credit from the NMDFC, in
comparison to other financial insti­t utions,
The NMDFC pays the SCAs Rs 1 crore in
is extremely small. This limits the impact of the name of infrastructure development
NMDFC assistance on the economic progress and, in addition it also pays 1% extra in-
of minorities. More­over, obtaining a guar- terest to SCAs for the loans disbursed.
antee from the state government remains
Over Rs 40 lakh was given in interest-free
the biggest hurdle to getting a loan from the
NMDFC. Also, due to financial constraints,
loans in 2006-07 to NGOs. All this money
the state governments are reluctant to is meant for the SCAs and not for the
guarantee loans. mino­rities. The NGOs also get financial
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
New Delhi-110067
Advt. No. RC/39/2009 Dated : 17/06/2009
Faculty Positions at the Jawaharlal Nehru University
A number of faculty positions, at the level of Assistant Professor,
Associate Professor and Professor are available in various Centres/
Special Centres and Schools of the University.
Candidates with good academic record, teaching/research experience
and working in related areas of research are encouraged to apply.
University also solicits applications from candidates with research
interests that are interdisciplinary.
For more details see JNU website: www.jnu.ac.in or Employment News
dated 5th September, 2009 or contact Section Officer, Recruitment
Cell, JNU, New Delhi-110067. Room No. 131, Administrative Block,
E-mail: recruitment@mail.jnu.ac.in
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september 5, 2009  vol xliv no 36  EPW   Economic & Political Weekly

support to help recover the loans they
give out but recovery has been only
around 57%. The problem with these
NGOs is not only poor performance. The
NMdFC has been forced to take legal ac-
tion against some of these NGOs for clear
unlawful practices. A total of 51 NGOs are
facing legal suits by the corporation to
recover more than Rs 1.8 crore.
The Minority Affairs Ministry has three
types of scholarships for minority stu-
dents, pre-matric, post-matric and merit-
cum-means. About six lakh students are
to benefit from these scholarships every
year. But just like other schemes of the
government, it has not been easy for the
intended beneficiaries to access these
scholarships. The application is six pages
long and available only in English. The
scholarship application also requires six
A Homage to Neeraben
Maithreyi Krishnaraj
With the death of Neera Desai, an
era in women’s studies in India
has in a sense passed. Her
contributions were not limited to
her scholarship and to the
development of the women’s
study centre at the SNDT University,
Mumbai. She also stood out for
her unstinting support to young
scholars all over the country, to
women’s organisations and the
women’s movement.
Maithreyi Krishnaraj (maithreyi_krishnaraj@
yahoo.com) has been researching issues
relating to gender for many years.
Economic & Political Weekly  EPW   september 5, 2009  vol xliv no 36
additional documents, two on official
stamp paper. Many poor and deserving
students are unlikely to have the resourc-
es and expertise necessary to correctly
deal with all this cumbersome paper-
work. A number of students who did qual-
ify complained of not getting the money
that was promised to them.
Solutions
The solution to all these problems is not to
have another commission to investigate
matters. The solution is also not in prom-
ulgating other schemes and programmes.
The first thing the government must do is
to constitute a joint parliamentary com-
mittee to monitor the implementation of
these and other schemes meant for the
welfare of the minorities. Second, there
need to be sustained awareness campaigns
T
o everyone, she was always “Neer-
aben”, a kind of benign mother
figure, who protected and carried
with her, the brood of women’s studies
scholars. I do not believe in hagiography
because that makes her into a unidi­
mensional figure and misses out on the
struggle she had in the challenges of the
period, the challenges she faced in remak-
ing herself in ever new roles. Like most of
us, she had her strengths and weaknesses.
She was not a “saint” endowed with un-
failing wisdom, preaching to us but a very
human being with human frailties and ex-
cellences, angry sometimes, forgiving at
other times, and hence, easy to relate to as
one of us. Most of all, she had a caring
nature. One misses the dhoklas and tea
that always awaited us when we had meet-
ings arranged at her house. She opened
her doors to meetings of various groups.
What is remarkable is how she learnt all
the way. I joined the SNDT women’s studies
“unit” as it was then, a small one room
place, heroically managed by the honor-
ary director of the unit. Both Neeraben
and myself grew in women’s studies and
commentary
among the Muslims, and minorities in
general, to help them know about and
correctly identify relevant government
schemes and also their rights and duties
as citizen of India.
Muslims can raise funds, establish
schools and colleges, and organise self-
help groups but all these efforts together
cannot match the funds required to meet
the needs of the community over the en-
tire length and breadth of India. It is there-
fore necessary that the government fulfil
its promises towards minority develop-
ment and Muslim groups need to monitor
these schemes at the grass root level to en-
sure proper implementation. There are
many other solutions too but, finally, it all
depends on how sincere the governments
at the states and centre are towards
minority welfare.
grew with it. Women’s studies changed us
and we changed women’s studies as our
understanding grew, and the fact that a
totally new area had emerged, threw
open vistas of exploration, ideas and
theorisation. Above all, underwriting the
whole enterprise was a deeply felt concern
for bringing true equality for women. I am
still uncomfortable with the new notion of
“empowerment” that by-passes the ques-
tion of gender equality.
Feminist Consciousness
Not many people know of the history of
how the unit blossomed into a full-scale
research centre gaining recognition across
the country and abroad. It was the out-
come of a set of fortuitous circumstances,
a period in history, when the time had
come. International conferences of the
United Nations had placed women’s issue
centre stage. But what was amazing was
that Neeraben long before all this flurry of
activity began, had identified research
and documentation of women’s status
as an important area of concern for a
women’s university.
In a symposium held at the university
to celebrate the golden jubilee of the
SNDT university in 1966, Zakir Hussain
declared that “whatever else these
educated women would do, they would
be housewives and mothers on whom
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