New Delhi: A Parliamentary panel on Thursday "deplored" the non-expenditure of huge funds allocated to the Minority Affairs Ministry, saying it could result in entire range of minority schemes becoming "exercises in futility". In its 37th report on the Ministry, the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment -- headed by Congress MP Hemanand Biswal -- also noted that despite marked improvement in the development indices of Muslims, the community lags behind the national average.
The panel noted with dismay that out of total budgetary allocation of Rs 3,135 crore under Plan during 2012-13, the actual expenditure incurred by the ministry was only Rs 2,165.82 crore and as such Rs 969.38 crore, which could not be utilised, were ultimately surrendered by the ministry. "Notably, the Ministry of Finance reduced the budgetary allocation from Rs 3,135 crore to Rs 2,200 crore at revised estimate (RE) stage during 2012-13 under the plan head keeping in view the trend of expenditure till September 2012.
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01:58 AM, May 03, 2013
Members of Pakistan's minority Hindu community staged a protest in southern Sindh province after a Hindu woman converted to Islam and married a Muslim man, according to a media report on Saturday. The protest and a "wave of anger" within the minority community led to the postponement of polls for the Hindu Panchayat in Jacobabad on Friday. ...
12:47 PM, Mar 30, 2013
Special courts would be set up soon for Muslim youth accused of various offences, including terror-related charges, Minister for Minority Affairs K Rahman Khan said in New Delhi on Saturday. ...
03:00 AM, Mar 24, 2013
The Gujarat High Court on Friday turned down the state government's contention that students belonging to the minority community cannot be given scholarships at the pre-matric level. ...
03:16 PM, Feb 15, 2013
Pakistan's Supreme Court on Wednesday imposed a complete ban on the transfer and development of land around shrines of minority communities in the wake of allegations about the illegal sale of a gurdwara's property by a state-run body. ...
05:06 AM, Feb 07, 2013
A panchayat in Udaipur district has asked families of the minority community not to allow girls to carry cellphones and prohibit them from dancing at wedding processions in public view. ...
04:57 PM, Jan 12, 2013
There is trouble for Union Minority Affairs Minister Rahman Khan with the president of the Karnataka Minorities Commission filing a complaint against him alleging involvement in corruption. ...
05:52 PM, Dec 28, 2012
Seeking to project the image that her party's base was not limited to Scheduled Castes, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has said that she is willing to support a separate bill to provide reservation in promotion to backwards in government jobs. Favouring early implementation of Sachar Committee recommendations, Mayawati also sought to target arch rival Samajwadi Party by claiming that the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh has failed to...
03:51 PM, Dec 23, 2012
A regressive and strange diktat has ruffled feathers in Uttar Pradesh. Women students in Bijnor have been barred from wearing black clothing and jeans at a function to be presided by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Reports say women have also been barred from wearing jeans and using mobile phones. ...
07:56 PM, Dec 10, 2012
Indians are expected to rank as the largest ethnic minority group in the UK in the latest results from the 2011 census, according to a media report. Data from the 2011 census, to be released tomorrow, will suggest there are now more than one million people born to parents in interracial relationships, the British newspaper Daily Mail reported. ...
04:54 PM, Dec 10, 2012
Opposition leader in the Karnataka Assembly, Siddaramaiah, on Monday, demanded resignation of Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar for running a minority government and not coming out clear on government's stand on the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. ...
11:03 AM, Dec 10, 2012
Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that Congress will be in a minority in Gujarat after the Assembly elections. Rubbishing Singh's remark that minorities were feeling "insecure" in the BJP-ruled state, BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said the results will show that Congress will be far short of majority. ...
07:25 PM, Dec 09, 2012
New Delhi: Newly-appointed Minority Affairs Minister Rahman Malik on Monday refuted the corruption allegation against him and said there are no charges against him "personally". The 73-year-old Karnataka leader was embroiled in a scam in which misuse and encroachment of Wakf properties in the state had caused a loss worth Rs 2 lakh crore to the exchequer. The Karnataka State Minorities Commission, which conducted its study in other districts, also...
06:43 PM, Oct 29, 2012
New Delhi: K Rahman Khan, a veteran Parliamentarian who had a nearly six-year stint as Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, makes a comeback into the Union Council of Ministers with a promotion to Cabinet rank. The re-entry of the 73-year-old leader from Karnataka in the government was anticipated when he relinquished the charge of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman earlier this year after which he was re-elected to the House for...
05:44 PM, Oct 28, 2012
New Delhi: Implementation of Sachar Committee Report to address socio-economic issues of Muslim community and UPA's election promises to minorities will be among the priorities for K Rahman Khan who took oath as Minister for Minority Affairs in New Delhi on Sunday. "My priority will be to fulfil all the promises made by UPA for minorities in the election manifesto in letter and spirit and see that Sachar Committee is...
03:36 PM, Oct 28, 2012
Hyderabad: A major embezzlement case has come to light in Hyderabad. A CID investigation has revealed that Rs 55 crore of minority funds were siphoned off by four officials of the state-run Minority Finance Corporation. The CID conducted searches at the corporation's offices following a complaint filed by the Secretary of the Minority Welfare Department. The CID found that 55 out of the Rs 80 crore that were sanctioned by...
11:26 AM, Oct 11, 2012
A 14-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan who was charged with blasphemy is expected to be declared innocent by a juvenile court on Monday. Police say that Rimsha Masih was not only innocent but that she was framed by a Muslim cleric in her home town. Masih reportedly suffers from Down Syndrome. The cleric said that he saw her tearing down the Quran's pages. ...
10:01 AM, Oct 01, 2012
Rimsha Masih is a minor Christian girl from a poor Islamabad suburb who was accused more than two weeks back by her neighbour and a local cleric of blasphemy. The cleric, Khalid Jadoon, accused the illiterate girl of carrying a bag of garbage which allegedly also contained some torn and burnt pages from the Holy Quran. Rimsha spent more than a fortnight in jail before being released on bail on...
03:00 PM, Sep 07, 2012
New Delhi: The government on Thursday said it does not have specific details about the magnitude of illegal migration from Bangladesh to India as it takes place clandestinely. Replying to a unstarred question in Lok Sabha, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said there are reports of illegal infiltration and immigration of Bangladeshi nationals, who manage to "infiltrate into the country despite checks and control" at the International border. JD-U's Arjun...
04:04 PM, Sep 06, 2012
Guwahati: The Army on Tuesday staged flag marches at various places in BTAD as the AAMSU-sponsored day-long Assam bandh turned violent with government officials and mediapersons attacked leading to imposition of curfew in some areas. Assam IGP (BTAD) SN Singh told PTI "Flag marches by the Army are on at various places. The situation in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) is tense but under control." The death toll in...
08:10 PM, Aug 28, 2012
