Over Rs900 cr for minorities, Christian Development Corp proposed

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday presented a Budget that set aside nearly Rs1,000 crore for religious minorities.

This State government allocated at least Rs981 crore for various scheme, including loans for minority students, development of places of worship etc.

Notably, a Christian Development Corporation will be established and Rs100 crore will be allocated for the body for the current financial year. Moreover, the Christian Development Council has been upgraded to Christian Development Board, a move applauded by Bengaluru Archbishop Peter Machado. “As much as Rs360 crore would be allocated for the Chief Ministers’ Special Development Programme and Minorities Colony Development Programme in the year,” Siddaramaiah said.

The CM said that Rs60 crore would be allocated to restart the pre-matriculation scholarships for minorities. As many as 62 minority Morarji Desai Residential Schools in the state will be upgraded as integrated schools from sixth to 12th standard.

This will benefit 13,000 students and Rs30 crore will be provided to the said scheme in the current year. Rs23 crore would be provided to double the enrollment of students in 50 Morarji Desai Residential Schools, hoping to rope in 12,500 additional students.

There are 200 Moulana Azad Schools in the state. At Least 75% students have passed the exams in all these schools and out of which 22 schools have secured 100% results.

“By identifying the better perfor ming Moulana Azad Schools, measures will be taken to enhance the quality of education in these schools and basic infrastructure will be provided to schools not having their own building,” the CM said.

The Budget set aside Rs 25 crore for the development of major pilgrimage centres of the Jain community.