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Giving a major boost to the welfare schemes for minorities, the Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram, has proposed to increase the equity support for the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) as may be required.
Emphasizing that minorities would have to be brought more into the development process, the Finance Minister announced that a certain percentage of new schools under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan as well as the Kasturba Balika Vidyalaya Scheme would be located in districts or blocks having a substantial minority population. Likewise, a certain proportion of new Anganwadi Centres would be located in blocks or villages, which have a substantial concentration of minorities, he added.
To provide increased opportunities for teaching Urdu in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, it has been proposed to provide Central assistance for recruitment and posting of Urdu language teachers in primary and upper primary schools that serve a population in which at least one-fourth belong to that language group.
The Finance Minister has also proposed to expand the number of schemes for pre-examination coaching of candidates belonging to the minority communities, to include reputed private coaching institutes which have a track record of showing good results in competitive examinations. He has further proposed to provide funds to pay the fees on behalf of meritorious candidates from minority communities who enroll in these selected private institutes.
SB/MVVS/RKJ/VB/NSR
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