Mr. N.Kiran Kumar Reddy, C.M. of A.P. told that Congress is the only secular and Minorities friendly party in the country. Congress has concentrated on the education of the Muslims.
Chief Minister was addressing a gathering of Muslim organizations in a school at Maheshwaram yesterday.
Muslim organizations had arranged this meeting to thank the C.M. on taking various steps for developing the Muslim community especially the decision to establish a commissionerate for Minorities. Home Minister, M.S. Sabitha Indira Reddy presided over the function.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Reddy told that only education could change the lives of the Muslims.
Due to this, Govt. of A.P. is concentrating on the education of the Muslims. This year Rs.2, 800 crore were spent on education. Congress Govt. has provided 4% reservation to the Muslims. As a result of which 30 thousand Muslim students became engineers. Very soon one thousand doctors will also starts their practice. Govt. has appointed 2900 supervisors to modernize Madrasa education. One volunteer has been appointed to monitor 100 houses.
C.M. told that when he took charge of the state, Minorities budget was only Rs.100 crore which was increased to Rs.489 crore. He also told that during TDP Govt. its budget was only Rs.30 crore.
In the past 1700 scholarships used to be given with a budget of Rs.2 crore. The present Congress Govt. is giving Rs.230 crore and hence 1.5 lakh students are being benefited through it.
He told that in the recently held Chief Minister’s conference in Bengaluru, he had suggested to the Finance Minister to provide loans to Minorities.
Accepting this proposal, Mr. Chidambaram issued instructions to banks to release funds for Minorities to the extent of 15% of total loans.
Demands were made for the establishment of a degree college and a junior college for Minorities. These demands are likely to fulfilled soon.
—Siasat