Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday allocated Rs.3,511 crore to the minorities affairs ministry, an increase of 12 percent over last year.
“I have allocated Rs.3,511 crore to the ministry of minorities affairs. This is an increase of 12 percent over the BE (budget estimate) last year,” Chidambaram announced in his budget speech in Lok Sabha.
“It is 60 percent over the RE (revised estimates) over last year,” he added.
The ministry was allocated Rs.3,135 crore last year, but only spent Rs.2,218.26 crore of it.
Chidambaram also proposed to allocate Rs.160 crore to the Maulana Azad Education Foundation, from the current corpus of Rs.750 crore, saying the objective is to raise it to Rs.1,500 crore during the 12th Plan period.
For additional medical facilities for the foundation, he allocated Rs.100 crore.