Karnataka govt cuts funding for minority welfare by Rs 468 crore; many schemes dropped

News Network

October 8, 2020

Bengaluru, Oct 10: Karnataka government has decided to drop several programmes aimed at the welfare of Muslims by slashing the funds for minority welfare schemes by 44% (Rs 468 crore) in the financial year 2020-21. Some of the schemes that covered Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs also have been dropped.

Minority Welfare Minister Shrimant Patil has announced that no allocation will be made for following five schemes: Construction of Muslim convention halls (Shaadi Mahals), skill development for minorities, Bidaai (Shaadi Bhagya), Chief Minister’s Minorities Development Scheme and financial assistance to Jain, Buddhist and Sikh communities.

Apart from them, the state government has cut funds for several ongoing programmes aimed at minorities. They include funds for development of Christians, learning interventions in state-run minority schools, Vidyasiri stipend, training for competitive exams and new hostels.

In all, the allocation for minority welfare that was Rs 1,418.98 crore in 2019-20 has come down to Rs 950 crore this fiscal.

Bidaai was launched by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in which a Rs 50,000 one-time marriage assistance was given to minority women, where it was originally intended only for Muslims. Over one lakh women have been covered under the scheme since inception. “There were 32,516 pending applications in 2019-20 and each one was given Rs 25,000 in a one-time settlement for which Rs 81.29 crore was released,” Patil informed the Assembly.

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Waqf land: Karnataka govt warns action against officials issuing eviction notice to farmers

News Network

November 10,2024

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has warned that disciplinary action will be taken against those officials who change the land mutation records and serve eviction notices to farmers under the Waqf Act.

In a letter, the Revenue Department Principal Secretary Rajender Kumar Kataria reminded all regional commissioners and deputy commissioners in the districts that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently had a meeting following complaints about certain land properties being made in favour of the Karnataka Board of Waqfs.

In the meeting it was decided that all the directions issued previously by any government office or authority to change the mutation records has been withdrawn, the letter said.

It added that all the notices served in the past have also been withdrawn and no action should be taken against the farmers who are cultivating on the said land.

On the directions of the chief minister, the previous letters and the latest reminders served on November 7 to the farmers and land owners have been withdraw, the letter said.

"The officials who served reminder-2 despite the chief minister's direction will face appropriate disciplinary action," Kataria said in his letter.

He said he has been instructed to strictly implement the chief minister's direction.

The fresh direction was issued in poll-bound Karnataka, where bypolls to three crucial assembly segments are due on November 13.

Some farmers in Honwad village in Vijayapura in north Karnataka had alleged last month that they were served eviction notices as the Waqf Board claimed rights over it.

Subsequently, complaints started in pouring in from some other parts of the state.

BJP leader Tejasvi Surya on October 25 alleged that Karnataka Waqf Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan directed the deputy commissioners and revenue officials to register lands in favour of the Waqf Board within 15 days, which resulted in confusion.

On Surya's request, the Chairman of the Joint Committee of Parliament on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Jagdambika Pal visited Karnataka on November 7 and met farmers in Hubballi, Vijayapura and Belagavi districts who had alleged that their lands were marked as Waqf properties.

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