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The Ministry of Minority Affairs told the Rajya Sabha that it implements schemes for the six centrally notified minority communities — Buddhists, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Parsis and Sikhs — irrespective of topographic conditions.
Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS) is an integrated Central Sector Scheme formed by combining five erstwhile schemes — Seekho Aur Kamao, USTTAD, Hamari Dharohar, Nai Roshni and Nai Manzil — with four components covering skilling and training, women leadership and entrepreneurship, education, and infrastructure development through convergence with PMJVK.
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme creating community infrastructure in Minority Concentration Areas across health, education, skill development, women-centric projects, drinking water and sanitation, sports and renewable energy.
Under NMDFC's concessional credit schemes, Credit Line-1 covers families with annual income up to Rs 3 lakh and Credit Line-2 up to Rs 8 lakh, delivered through State Channelising Agencies.
Under Jiyo Parsi, running since 2013, 582 beneficiaries have received medical assistance and 1,055 under the Health of Community component since 2018-19; total expenditure is Rs 37.43 crore and 534 births have been reported in the community since 2014-15.
The Constitution does not define 'minority'. Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 empowers the Central Government to notify communities as minorities, and the notification is the operative legal act. Five communities — Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) — were notified initially, and Jains were added by a notification of 27 January 2014, bringing the count to six. Two constitutional provisions do the protective work. Article 29 protects the right of any section of citizens with a distinct language, script or culture to conserve it, and is available to all citizens rather than only to minorities. Article 30 gives religious and linguistic minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice, and bars the State from discriminating against such institutions in granting aid. Note the asymmetry the exam tests: minority status under the 1992 Act is notified at the national level, but the Supreme Court has held that for Article 30 purposes minority status is determined State-wise — a community that is a majority nationally can be a minority in a particular State, and vice versa.
Simple Analogy: Article 29 protects any group's culture; Article 30 gives minorities the further right to run their own schools. The 1992 Act simply lists who counts as a minority for the Government's welfare purposes.
Facilitate opportunities for minority communities in education, skilling and employment
Key: An integrated Central Sector Scheme formed by merging five erstwhile schemes — Seekho Aur Kamao (skill development), USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development), Hamari Dharohar (preservation of minority heritage), Nai Roshni (leadership development of minority women) and Nai Manzil (education and skilling for school dropouts) — into four components
Create community infrastructure in Minority Concentration Areas
Key: A Centrally Sponsored Scheme covering health, education, skill development, women-centric projects, drinking water and sanitation, sports, renewable energy and other community infrastructure; PM VIKAS's infrastructure component works through convergence with it
Arrest the declining population of the Parsi community in India
Key: Running since 2013; provides financial assistance for treatment of infertility, childbearing, childbirth and post-natal care under the Medical component, with a Health of Community component added from 2018-19 and an Advocacy component; 534 births reported since 2014-15 against total expenditure of Rs 37.43 crore
Build leadership capacity and confidence among minority women
Key: Provided knowledge, tools and techniques for interacting with government systems, banks and other institutions; implemented through empanelled Project Implementing Agencies and now subsumed into PM VIKAS's Women Leadership and Entrepreneurship component
Provide concessional finance for self-employment and income generation to notified minority communities
Key: Credit Line-1 for families with annual income up to Rs 3 lakh and Credit Line-2 up to Rs 8 lakh, routed through State Channelising Agencies such as the West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation
The nodal ministry for policy, planning, coordination, evaluation and regulatory framework and development programmes for the notified minority communities
Evaluates the progress of development of minorities, monitors the working of constitutional and legal safeguards, and looks into specific complaints of deprivation of rights
Provides concessional finance for self-employment and income-generating activities to notified minority communities through State Channelising Agencies
Deliver NMDFC's concessional credit schemes at the State level; in West Bengal the designated SCA is the West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation
The Ministry's autonomous body historically supporting educational upliftment of educationally backward minorities
The provision under which the Central Government notifies communities as minorities; five were notified initially and Jains were added by notification dated 27 January 2014, making six
Protects the right of any section of citizens having a distinct language, script or culture of its own to conserve it, and bars denial of admission to State-maintained or State-aided educational institutions on grounds of religion, race, caste or language
Gives all religious and linguistic minorities the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice, and requires the State not to discriminate against them in granting aid
Prohibit discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and guarantee equality of opportunity in public employment — the equality guarantees within which minority welfare schemes operate
Provide for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary stage for linguistic minority groups, and for a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities appointed by the President
PM VIKAS merging five schemes into one is part of a wider pattern across ministries of consolidating narrow schemes into umbrella programmes with components — the same pattern as Samagra Shiksha in education and SMILE in social justice
Jiyo Parsi is unusual as a government scheme explicitly aimed at raising the birth rate of a single community; the Parsi population's decline is attributed to late marriage, low fertility and out-migration, and 534 births since 2014-15 is the scheme's headline claim
PMJVK targets areas identified as having a substantial minority population and below-average socio-economic and basic amenities indicators — a spatial rather than individual targeting method, similar to the Aspirational Districts approach
The Ministry of Minority Affairs was created in January 2006, and much of its subsequent scheme architecture responds to the socio-economic findings of the Sachar Committee report on the status of the Muslim community, submitted later that year
GS Paper 2 > Governance > Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections; Polity > Rights of Minorities
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Polity
Minority welfare schemes and Articles 29-30 are standing Prelims and GS2 Mains topics
Pradhan Mantri Virasat Ka Samvardhan — the integrated Central Sector Scheme merging Seekho Aur Kamao, USTTAD, Hamari Dharohar, Nai Roshni and Nai Manzil
Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram — a Centrally Sponsored Scheme creating community infrastructure in Minority Concentration Areas
The scheme running since 2013 to arrest the declining Parsi population through medical assistance for infertility treatment, childbearing and post-natal care, with a Health of Community component from 2018-19
The State-level body nominated to deliver NMDFC's concessional credit schemes; in West Bengal it is the West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation