State minorities corp share capital upped to Rs 150 cr

Besides raising the annual allocation, the state government has also upped the share capital of the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation Ltd (KMDC), an undertaking for the upliftment of Muslims, Christians, Jains and Buddhist religious minorities in Karnataka, to Rs 150 crore from Rs 60 crore.

While previous governments provided grants between Rs 20 crore and Rs 35 crore to the Department of Minorities, while the present BJP government enhanced it to Rs 387 crore in 2010-11 budget against the previous two years’ grants of Rs 172 crore and Rs 252 crore respectively.

Similarly, it increased the budget allocation to the corporation to Rs 100 crore during 2011-12 as against Rs 60 crore and Rs 49.20 crore in 2010-11 and 2009-10, respectively, KMDC Chairman N B Aboobaker said in Mysore on Monday.

 

Including the financial help of Rs 7.29 crore received from the National Minorities Development Financial Corporation (NMDFC), KMDC released Rs 162.34 crore during the last two years and 10 months benefitting 104,474 beneficiaries under 13 schemes, eight of KMDC and five of NMDFC.

The physical target achieved in implementation of various schemes in the last three years accounted for 80 per cent, while the financial target stood at 83 per cent. The physical and financial targets set for 2011-12 were Rs 3.56 crore and 1,958 beneficiaries.

Loan recovery had shown an improvement, touching Rs 1 crore per month now, against the earlier recoveries of Rs 30 lakh. Outstandings stood at Rs 160 crore now.

Computerisation of the KMDC head office in Bangalore at a cost of Rs 75 lakh would be completed in the next three months. The introduction of services online would keep out middlemen and speed up administration, introducing transparency, the chairman said.

Earlier, the KMDC had offices only in seven districts. Branches had been opened in all the 30 districts now equipped with staff and computers so that benefits under different schemes reached the rural poor as well.

With introduction of new schemes, their number had gone up to 15 now. Two new schemes introduced this year would cover loan for purchase of agricultural land, a sum of Rs 2.50 lakh, half of which would be subsidy, and fee support of Rs 50,000 at 2 per cent interest for graduates taking up training at the National Institute Training Centre. Two additional schemes were proposed next year to cover those who want to buy sites to build houses and those who want to build houses on sites already owned by them.

Aboobaker said 80 per cent of the minorities in the State were Muslims, while 10 per cent were Christians. The remaining 10 per cent comprised Jains, mostly in five districts of Karkala, Belgaum, Koppal, Gadag and Mysore, and Buddhists. Among the last two communities, there were not many takers of the benefits. The Chief Minister had announced separate grant of Rs 50 crore for Christian community this year.