Skill development scheme for 100 per cent jobs for minorities: Government

NEW DELHI: A special skill development programme for minorities has been launched by the government with an aim to provide jobs to all of them who undergo it, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla said the skill development training programme of Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills (MANAS) was launched on pilot basis on the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

"Five Memorandum of Understanding were signed by MANAS and our aim is to provide 100 per cent jobs to those who enroll in it," she said during Question Hour.

Replying to a supplementary, Heptulla said a community is declared minority on the basis of its economic status and there is no other benchmark like a particular percentage of population under which such status is accorded.

She said of the 76 recommendations of Sachar Committee, which gave various suggestions for welfare of minority communities, 73 have been accepted by the government.

Heptulla said the evaluation committee headed by Amitabh Kundu, which was set up to verify the implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee, has submitted its final report.

"We are studying the Kundu Committee report and will see whether there are any short comings in the implementation process," she said.

The Minister said government is also trying to bring parity between scholarships given to minorities and SCs and STs and has requested the Finance Ministry to convert minority related scholarships as "demand driven".