Opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday slammed the Union Budget claiming it fails to deliver on the government's trumpeted 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' slogan as it has cut allocations for schemes for minorities and overlooks concerns of farmers, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Participating in the debate on the Budget, Samajwadi Party MP Javed Ali Khan said the expenditure on schemes meant for the minority groups have been slashed over the years.
"The Budget or any policy document depicts the government's philosophy. In this Budget of 2025-26, minorities have been totally overlooked. The welfare schemes for minorities, the programmes have been either shut or allocations have been cut," he said.
He said the allocation for pre-matric scholarships for minority groups students had a budget of Rs 433 crore in 2023-24, but only Rs 94 crore was released, and in 2024-25, the allocation was Rs 326 crore, but only Rs 90 crore was spent.
He added that this time, the allocation for this scheme is Rs 195 crore. Similarly, he said the post-matric scholarship had a budget of Rs 1145 crore in 2024-25, which is down to Rs 413 crore this time, while a merit-cum-means scholarship scheme for professional courses, which had Rs 33.80 crore allocation in 2024-25, had been given only Rs. 7.34 crore this time.
"Madrassa and minority schemes used to get crores... In 2023-24, the allocation was Rs 10 crore, in 2024-25 it was Rs 2 crore, and this time, it is just Rs 1 lakh," he said.
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