Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department
Government of West Bengal
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Initiatives

  1. Plan Budget for the Minority Affairs & Madrasah Education Department has risen by more than 8.5 times to a record Rs.4,094.99 crore in 2022-23, from Rs. 472 crore in 2010-11.

 

  1. 07 crore scholarships worth Rs. 6421.34 crore has been disbursed during 2011-22. West Bengal stands first in terms of enrolment & disbursement of minority scholarships in the country.

 

  1. With a view to providing opportunities for self employment, Term Loan and DLS (Micro Finance) are being provided to individual entrepreneurs and SHGs. Minority youths & members of Self Help Groups (SHGs) have been provided with 11.80 lakh Term Loans and Micro Credit to create sustainable employment during 2011-22.

 

  1. Education Loans upto Rs. 30 lakhs are provided to students belonging to minority communities for pursuing technical and professional courses in India and abroad. During 2011-22, 33,994 no. of Education Loans amounting to Rs. 88 cr. have been provided to students belonging to Minority Communities for pursuing higher studies. In the year 2021-22, 4024 no. of students have been provided with Rs. 50.84 cr. as Education Loan.

 

  1. During 2011-22, Rs. 3941.21 crore has been released under MsDP to bridge critical infrastructural gaps in 158 Minority Concentrated Blocks, 15 Minority Concentrated Towns and 10 district head-quarters. West Bengal stands first in India in respect of drawal and utilisation of MSDP fund during the 12th Under this scheme, around 18,498 Classrooms, 13,974 ICDS Centres, 1314 Health Centres, 21,805 Drinking Water Projects, 189 Karmatirthas, 152 Sadbhav Mandaps, 3,603 Toilet Blocks, 341 Hostels, 243 School Buildings and 63,519 Homesteads have been implemented during this period to augment critical infrastructure in rural areas.

 

  1. With a view to extend developmental works in non-MsDP districts having substantial minority population (20%-25%), this scheme has been introduced in 32 blocks of 14 districts by the State Government. During the last seven years, works similar to MsDP have been taken up involving Rs. 518 cr. in these districts for bridging critical infrastructural gaps.

 

  1. In order to bridge the critical gaps in infrastructure, especially in areas having sizeable population of minorities but not covered under MSDP or IMDP infrastructure development scheme under Minority Development and Welfare Programme (MDW) has been started. The focus area is improvement of school infrastructure of schools having sizeable percentage of minority students. A total of Rs. 809 cr. has been released for various schemes in different blocks across all the 23 Districts of West Bengal under this scheme.

 

  1. 317 Karmatirthas are being set up for providing self-employment and marketing opportunities to minority youths and SHGs in minority areas, of which 224 Karmatirthas are operational and 25 Karmatirthas are nearing completion and operationalisation.

 

  1. To improve the quality of life of minority communities in West Bengal and to fulfill the commitment of the State Government for providing “Shelter to All”- 2,57,557 units of housing have been constructed at a cost of Rs. 2,429 crore under various housing schemes.

 

  1. Community Halls called ‘Sadbhav Mandaps’ are being constructed @ one each in all 152 Minority Concentrated Blocks and 41 Community Halls in 32 IMDP Blocks of West Bengal. Out of these, 193 Community Halls, 125 have been completed. The rest are at various stages of construction.

 

  1. With a view to impart Madrasah education through a modern and updated mode of teaching, 600 Smart Class Rooms have been set up and e-books have been made available in 300 Madrasahs in two phases. Computer Laboratories are being set up in 115 madrasahs to improve the students’ computer skills and to render them more employable. Free books are provided to all the students of Government aided Madrasahs, MSKs and SSKs. Besides, School Dress, Bag and Shoes are provided to all students of Class I to VIII of all Government aided Madrasahs, MSKs and SSKs.

 

  1. 235 recognized Unaided Junior High Madrasahs have been brought under a new scheme called “State Sponsored Scheme for Providing Quality and Scientific Education in Recognized Unaided Madrasahs”. Under this scheme, honorarium to Teaching/Non-teaching staff of the recognized unaided Madrasah would be provided by the Government. Total budget for this purpose in the year 2022-23 is Rs. 22.14 crore.

 

  1. In the year 2020-21, Rs. 30.95 crore has been sanctioned for basic infrastructure development of 154 recognized unaided Madrasahs. Under this scheme, 196 ACRs, 267 School Toilets and 124 Tube wells are being constructed in these Madrasahs.

 

  1. English-medium Madrasahs are being set up in 14 districts to fulfil the minority students’ aspirations for modern education. Out of these, 12 have become functional. Students from English Medium Model Madrasah of North 24 Parganas appeared for Class-X Board Examination this year.

 

  1. For educational upliftment of minorities, 546 hostels for minority students are being set up. Of these 424 have already been operationalised and the rest are nearing completion & operationalisation. Maintenance allowance of Rs.10,000/- per annum is being provided to each student residing in these hostels.

 

  1. A state-of-the-art campus of Aliah University has been established in New Town, Kolkata with an additional campus at Park Circus, at a total cost of Rs. 551 crore. Separate Hostels for Girls and Boys at New Town Campus of Aliah University involving an amount of Rs. 115 Cr. have also been constructed. More than 1250 students are residing in these hostels. The University offers a vast range of courses like 4 year B-Tech Programme in major Engineering disciplines, Masters Courses in Computer Applications, Management & Law and Masters, B.Ed and Bachelor Courses in various subjects of Social & Natural Science and Nursing etc. The University has already emerged as a source of great inspiration and has all the potential to lead the entire community in its journey through modern knowledge laced with scientific temper.

 

  1. With a view to boost technical education and employability of youth, 39 ITIs and 8 Polytechnics are being set up in minority-concentrated areas. So far 27 ITIs & 5 Polytechnics have been completed and made operational. These are being operated by the Technical Education and Training Department.

 

  1. A ladies hostel (for students as well as working women belonging to minority communities) “Aikatan” with a capacity of 216 boarders has been constructed at Kaikhali.

 

  1. Earlier, people speaking six languages viz. Hindi, Urdu, Nepali, Oriya, Santhali, and Gurumukhi were declared as Linguistic Minorities in the State. Recently, people whose mother tongue is Telugu are also declared as Linguistic Minority.

 

  1. The budgetary allocation for West Bengal Urdu Academy has been enhanced by over 6 times since 2011, to Rs.12 cr. Also, to reach out better to the Urdu population of North Bengal and the Urdu concentrated areas of Paschim and Purba Bardhhaman, regional centres of the West Bengal Urdu Academy have been set up at Islampur and Asansol respectively.

 

  1. To prevent the risk of illegal encroachment as also the law and order problem boundary walls around 6,700 public graveyards of minority communities have been taken up. Rs.954 cr. has been released for this purpose. So far, work of around 5,695 graveyard boundary walls have been completed.

 

  1. With an intention to provide people easy access to the information, schemes, benefits and services meant for the development & welfare of minorities & to ensure redressal of their grievances by concerned officials, offices of the Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department, Minority Bhawans, are being set up in twenty three districts, out of which 21 have been completed so far.

 

  1. A record number of 84,771 Haj Pilgrims have performed Haj Pilgrimage during 2011-19. The State Government facilitates in transportation of Haj Pilgrims to Kolkata Airport and arranges for the accommodation of pilgrims from the Districts.

 

  1. A new state-of-the-art Haj House (Madinatul Hujjaj) has been built at a project cost of Rs. 107 crore in New Town. Since 2017-18, the entire Haj Operations, including City Check-in of pilgrims are being carried-out from Madinatul Hujjaj with great success.

 

  1. The services of 61,600 Imam & Moazzins are being utilised by the West Bengal Board of Auqaf to generate public awareness regarding education for all, immunization, sanitation and other social campaigns. They are also helping the Board of Auqaf in protection of Auqaf properties.

 

  1. The West Bengal Pahadia Minorities Development Board has been established for a more focused development of minorities in the Hill Region of the State. The Board has taken up the scheme titled “House of Joy” for providing dwelling units to poor in the Hills. So far, it has provided 2000 numbers of dwelling units @Rs. 2 lakh per dwelling unit to as many number of families.

 

  1. E-governance & IT intervention : Providing the benefits of the Government schemes quickly in a transparent manner to the people has been a priority for the Department. In the last few years, a majority of the schemes have been made online. These include online applications for (1) Aikyashree, (2) Scheme for Boundary wall around public Graveyard and (3) Scheme for Infrastructural support to reputed NGOs.

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Last Updated: Apr 08, 2019

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