NEW DELHI: Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday said the term minority doesn't denote only Muslims and that there are five other notified minorities: Jains, Buddhists, Christians, Parsis and Sikhs.
Addressing the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Naqvi said, "Empowerment without appeasement and development with dignity is the new mantra of the Narendra Modi government to carry out welfare programmes for the minorities."
The minister said there is not a single district in the country where minorities were not benefited from the welfare programmes initiated by the Modi government since 2014.
"We believe in empowerment without appeasement and development with dignity. Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas," he said.
Naqvi said the annual allocation for the Ministry of Minority Affairs during the last three years were Rs 3827.26 crore (2016-17), Rs 4195.48 crore (2017-18) and Rs 4700.00 crore (2018-19). He said Rs 1071.10 crore has been allocated for the 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakaram' under which 40 hostels, 1,628 smart classes, 59 sadbhav mandaps, 350 market sheds, 21 residential schools, 37 schools buildings, 4,083 additional classrooms, 88 health projects and 1,096 anganwadi centres were constructed in minority dominated areas.
(With inputs from agencies)