Hyderabad: Telangana State Minorities Finance Corporation (TSMFC) will distribute free sewing machines to unemployed minority women under its scheme ‘KCR ka tohfa khawateen ke liye bharosa‘.
As per the scheme, minority women belonging to the Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi communities will get the sewing machines for free.
The scheme was launched by TSMFC’s chairman Imtiaz Ishaq, who issued guidelines to all the District Minority Welfare Officers (DMWO) for the scheme implementation.
On Tuesday, he conducted a meeting with the vice chairman and MD of Telangana Christian Minority Finance Corporation J Kanthi Wesley at Haj House, Nampally, and reviewed the progress of the scheme’s implementation.
Also, a few cheques of ‘Economic Support Scheme Subsidy Loans’ were handed over to the select beneficiaries of Hyderabad.
During the meeting, the chairman requested the DMWOs to submit the pending selection list of the Economic Support Scheme Subsidy Loans at the earliest.
“Subsidy to those who have selected will be released after the submission of the the selection list,” said Imtiaz Ishaq.
The chairman further directed all the DMWOs to ensure the implementation of the schemes of the minorities welfare department on a war footing basis.
While praising the state chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Imtiaz Ishaq thanked the Government of Telangana for setting up and developing various allied business activities for economic development and upliftment of minority communities in the state.
Minorities devoid of other benefits
While benefits worth crores of rupees are being announced by CM KCR and the state finance department to appease government employees, the absence of a dedicated budget for implementing schemes meant for minorities and Muslims is conspicuous.
Also, the government’s failure to include the BC(E) category in the recently launched Rs 1 lakh non-refundable scheme for backward classes has raised concerns among minorities.
Muslim youths and families belonging to the BC(E) category are being denied the opportunity to benefit from the scheme, alleged a minority rights activist, Sanaullah.
Focus on Dalit welfare, minorities left out
Recently, the government initiated the Dalit Bandhu scheme, providing Rs 10 lakh to Dalit families, and announced a scheme of Rs 1 lakh for BC communities, benefiting 100 families in each assembly constituency.
Telangana finance minister T Harish Rao proposed Rs 17,700 crore for Dalit Bandhu scheme as he presented a tax-free budget with an outlay of Rs 2.90 lakh crore for 2023-24.
As per the information provided by the state’s IT minister KT Rama Rao, the government has taken a different approach where each seat in the state would receive 1100 Dalit Bandhu units in the second phase.
To attract backward castes, especially small businessmen and those in hereditary professions, the state government has recently announced a scheme where a beneficiary will get a 100 percent input subsidy up to Rs 1 lakh.
To implement the scheme, the state government has already released Rs 500 crore to the BC Welfare Corporation.
However, the government have allocated only Rs 25.47 crores for TS Minorities Finance Corporation for the implementation of Economic Support Schemes of the Corporation during the year 2022-23.
Only 2.1% of budgetary allocation spent
In contrast with the Dalit scheme, the State Minority Finance Corporation has been issuing demand drafts ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000 as loans to minority youth, with the expectation of repayment.
Under the bank-linked subsidy scheme for minorities, two types of loan programmes with different subsidy rates are offered. The first loan programme offers an 80 percent subsidy for loans up to Rs 1 lakh, while the second programme offers a 70 percent subsidy for loans up to Rs 2 lakh.
However, only 2.11 percent of the budgetary allocation was spent under the minority subsidy scheme in the financial year 2022-23, according to data obtained through the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
Researcher and RTI activist MA Akram filed the RTI and sought to know the allocation and expenditure of the Minorities Welfare Department (MWD) under various heads.
According to the data, the allocation for the bank-linked subsidy scheme for the financial year 2022-23 was Rs 25.47 crore and the expenditure stood at a mere Rs 60 lakh.
“Applicants have to spend up to Rs 1200 for the required documentation at the time of submission. The process should be made easier,” MA Akram was quoted in a report by The Hindu.
The data also revealed that the expenditure in the current financial year was poor as compared to previous years.
Follow on Twitter | Posted by Masrath Fatima | 
