Hyderabad: Minority welfare schemes stall due to lack of funds

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Minority Finance Corporation (TSMFC), supposed to provide bank connected subsidies and schemes to the minorities, has been literally ineffective since the State formation due to lack of government funds.

The minorities in the State are facing hardships. They are looking to the corporation to make a fresh start by setting up a small business, but there is no hope of getting loans from the State. Schemes for them include education, scholarship reimbursement and self-employment, driver empowerment.

According to social activists, the State government had announced Rs 50,000 as direct loan to Muslims to make them self-sufficient by enabling them to start small businesses. The bank-linked scheme loans are between Rs 50,000 and Rs 10 lakh with subsidy ranging from 100 to 60 per cent. Under this scheme, about 1.43 lakh applications have been pending for the last six years. A review of the scheme since the State formation indicates that very few applicants were given subsidies. The number of beneficiaries is woefully inadequate, a clear indication of the corporation's failure. Mir Inayat Ali, a social activist said, "About 1.53 lakh beneficiaries applied under this loan scheme in 2014-15, but only 10,000 received subsidies of below Rs 1 lakh. Since then the scheme has been halted due to lack of government funding."

Similarly, under the Driver-cum-Owner Scheme, around 14,000 unemployed applied but 409 beneficiaries in 2017-18 and 2018-19, and 106 in 2020-21 were given vehicles."

Before the bifurcation, there were 21 schemes. Presently there are only a few; even these are not being implemented due to lack of budget. "The schemes for the minorities are only lip service of the government. It is initiating a scheme but not implementing and releasing the budget. Like AP, Telangana needs a sub-plan for the effective implementation of Minority Welfare Schemes," said Mohammed Ahmed, a social activist.