KCR plays safe on 12 per cent Muslim quota

Hyderabad : Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao appears to be highly cautions in dealing with one of his major electoral promises of giving 12% reservation in jobs and education for Muslims.

In his message, which was read out at the annual conference of All India Muslim Education Society (AIMES) held in the city on Saturday, the Chief Minister avoided mentioning "12 per cent" quota for Muslim and remained non-committal on the deadline to implement the same. "Providing reservations to Muslims in jobs and education will prove a very effective measure to ameliorate the studhorse. Therefore, the Telangana Government has taken certain steps for reservations and fulfilled constitutional and legal requirements before passing the resolution in Legislative Assembly. It is sent it for the approval of the Government of India. We have represented to the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and pursuing the matter with the Centre," he said in his speech copy which was mailed to the media on Saturday evening.

The Chief Minister gave a detailed list of schemes being implemented by his government for the welfare of Muslims in the State. He said while allocating an annual budget of Rs. 1250 crore, several innovative steps were taken for educational, social and economic empowerment of poor Muslims.

"One revolutionary step initiated by us is setting up of large number of Minority Residential Schools - 206 such high quality Residential schools are already a reality. More than 50,000 students are enrolled in these schools and on each student the cost spent is Rs. 65,000. This is in addition to the infrastructure cost of a minimum of Ac. 5.00 of land and Rs. 20 Crores to build each school. Fifty per cent of these schools are exclusively for girls. This will tremendously empower the Muslim women in a short time. Ultimately 1,35,000 students each year will get benefit with high quality education along with sports, nutrition, Clothing, etc., through these schools.

Telangana Government reimburses the Tuition fee for Minority students on par with SC, ST and BC students. Rs.200 crores is allocated and for this purpose. In addition, the state government pays Pre Metric Scholarships for Minority Students. Another innovative step is providing a grant of Rs. 20 lakhs in the form of Overseas Scholarship to each Minority student getting educated in Foreign Universities. Rs.40 crores allocated annually. This will transform lives of hundreds of meritorious students," he said.

Considering the poor representation of minorities in government services particularly in IAS, IPS, etc., KCR said Telangana Government bears the cost in training 100 selected candidates in standard institutions. In addition for several other competitive exams, training is important to them.

To develop Entrepreneurship among the Minority youth, Telangana Government has envisaged a scheme T-PRIME and allocated Rs.25 crores in the present budget. This will help the youth to transform into employers and Job providers rather than remaining as Job-seekers or employees.

A grant of Rs.75,116 is sanctioned to each deserving Muslim girl under “Shaadi Mubarak Scheme" for her marriage. This amount is transferred into the account of the mother of the girl. So far 68,786 girls were benefitted and an amount of Rs.363.54 was distributed under this scheme in the last two years. Now Government of India is contemplating introducing such a scheme, he said.

The Chief Minister said new clothes to 4 lakh poor Muslim families were being distributed during Ramazan and an Iftar Daawat are arranged for 4 lakh Muslims at 400 selected mosques in the State. "We do this since we understand the spirit of Ramazan – Charity and the tradition of even the poorest to wear new clothes for the Eid," he said.

KCR also claimed that the Telangana State stands first in promotion and development of Urdu language. "Assistance is given to Urdu writers, poets, journalists and small newspapers, value of prestigious Makhdoom Award is enhanced to Rs.2.25 lakhs. Similarly Moulana Abul kalam Azad Award worth Rs.2.25 Lakhs is also awarded to eminent personalities every year. To promote and encourage Urdu Education “Best Urdu Teachers and Best Urdu Students Awards are sanctioned every year. Infrastructure facilities are also provided to the Urdu Medium Schools. To further improve the conditions of Urdu Medium Schools the State Government is considering a proposal to transfer these Schools to the Minorities Welfare Department, so that these schools are managed in a better way," he said.

An Honorarium of Rs.1,500 per month is being released to 10,000 Imams and Mouzins in the State, he said.

The Dairatul Maarif Osmania In Osmania University is the prestigious institution which possess valuable books and manuscripts for protection, translation, preservation and digitalisation of these treasures a scheme with Central Government assistance is being implemented at a Cost of Rs.37.71 crores, he informed.

"All these are indicators of the concern of Telangana Government for the development of Minorities. It is our firm belief that unless we provide opportunities to every section of society, particularly to those who are weak and backward, the nation’s progress cannot be complete and inclusive," the Chief Minister said.