Central Idea

Education stands as a potent tool for nurturing socio-economic progress within a nation, especially for religious minorities.
However, recent years have witnessed discontinuation of key scholarship schemes, reduced funding, and a decline in beneficiaries, prompting concerns about the commitment to inclusive growth.

Minority Educational Schemes: Overview

Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme: Initially covering classes 1 to 10, now limited to classes 9 and 10.
Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme: Supports class 11 and above students, with increased funding this fiscal year.
Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship Scheme: Aided professional and technical courses, underwent significant funding reduction.
Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF): Provided financial assistance for research scholars but discontinued in 2022.
Padho Pardesh: Discontinued interest subsidy scheme for higher education abroad.
Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship: Scholarship for meritorious girls discontinued.

Change in Focus: Despite acknowledging the importance of education for religious minorities and inclusive growth, the government has discontinued two key educational schemes, narrowed the scope of another, and reduced expenditure on multiple programs by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
Beneficiary Drop: Between 2019 and 2022, the number of beneficiaries under six educational schemes for religious minorities decreased by 7%, while government spending on these programs declined by around 12.5%.
Budget Cuts: The Ministry of Minority Affairs faced a budgetary reduction of 38.3% for the fiscal year 2023-24, from Rs 5,020.5 crore in 2022-23 to Rs 3,097 crore. Additionally, a significant portion of funds allocated in the previous year went unutilized.

Diverse Religious Minorities: India encompasses over 30 crore people from religious minority communities, including Muslims (14.2%), Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.7%), Buddhists (0.7%), Jains (0.4%), and Zoroastrians.
Challenges Faced by Muslims: Muslims, the largest religious minority, confront challenges in areas like economics, health, and education. Their participation in formal employment remains low, with many working in the informal sector under poor conditions.
Sachar Committee Report: The Sachar Committee highlighted the deprivation and neglect faced by Muslims across various development dimensions, underscoring the need for affirmative action.
Formation of Ministry of Minority Affairs: Responding to these challenges, the UPA government established this Ministry in 2006 to ensure focused attention on the issues affecting minority communities.

Reduction in beneficiaries and funding has impacted the implementation of schemes, resulting in a widening gap in education and economic parameters.
Poor coverage of beneficiaries and unchanged low unit costs remain hurdles in scheme implementation.
Muslim students’ enrolment in higher education is lagging behind other communities, worsening the existing disparities.

Strengthen educational aid through enhancing scholarships, such as pre-matric, post-matric, merit-cum-means, and national overseas scholarships.
Implement targeted schemes based on the 15-Point Programme to address development gaps in minority-concentrated localities.
Make scholarships demand-driven and provide additional financial resources to improve unit costs.
Increase the total budget allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs to address the deprivation in educational attainment for minorities.