College buildings, scholarships, lower mess bills - these are a few of the sops the government doles out to Muslims in AP, on Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's birth anniversary.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy announced that three more centres for coaching for competitive exams, for minority students, would be opened at Nizamabad, Cuddapah and Chittoor, soon.
The proposed centres will be in addition to four centres already functioning at Hyderabad, Guntur, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool. The Chief Minister has also sanctioned Rs. 15 crores for the repairs of mosques and churches in AP.
The Chief Minister made the announcements while speaking as the Chief Guest in the "Minority Welfare Day" celebrations on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad at Ravindra Bharathi on Sunday. The CM paid floral tributes to Moulana Azad, and recalled that as the first Education Minister of independent India, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad had introduced the IITs.
He said that education alone can bring revolutionary change in the society, and appealed to parents and religious heads to help the government motivate children to go to school.
The CM stated that several programs were being implemented for the welfare of the minorities in AP.
"The budget for minorities in the state was Rs. 30 crores during 2004-05, and was enhanced to Rs. 489 crores. While 17,000 students were being given scholarships during 2004-05, amounting to Rs. 2 crores, the figure has been enhanced to Rs. 230 crores for 1.5 lakh students during 2011-12. As the state government introduced 4% reservations for minorities during 2004, 30,239 engineers and over 1,000 doctors benefitted. These reservations were extended for another ten years," the Chief Minister said.
He added that during the recent police recruitments, 60 Muslim youth were selected as Sub-Inspectors.
The Chief Minister said that 2,000 Vidya volunteers were appointed in Madarsas through Rajiv Vidya Mission.
"In Hyderabad's Old City, one volunteer was appointed for every 100 households to monitor the children, and this facility will be extended all over the state soon. Mess charges to minority students have been enhanced on par with SC, ST students," he said.
The Chief Minister also said that Rs 4.5 crores have been sanctioned for the upgradation of Charminar Unani Tibbi Hospital. He added that a training centre of the National Academy of Construction has been opened in the Old City to train the unemployed youth under Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu.
Also, three new buildings for degree colleges were sanctioned for the Old City, and Rs. 15 crores were released to Quli Qutub Shah Urban Development Authority, he announced.
In his presidential address, former minister Mohammad Ali Shabbir said that Maulana Azad's life should be a role model to modern-day politicians. He said that Maulana Azad spent almost one-third of his life in jail in the pre-independence period. He added that he was also the longest serving president of the Congress, and that he held the post thrice. He said that no political party, "especially the Sangh Parivar", could give an example of any leader who matches the stature of Maulana Azad.
Shabbir Ali said that the general public, especially the Muslim community, should learn from the lives and sacrifices of leaders like Maulana Azad to grow up in their lives.
Earlier the Chief Minister inaugurated an exhibition of AP Minorities Finance Corporation, AP State Christians Finance Corporation and the activities of the AP Wakf Board. Former minister Mohammad Fariduddin, MLCs Farooq Hussain and Shaik Peeran and others spoke on the occasion. (INN)