Minority Welfare Allocation in Karnataka Budget ‘Inadequate’, Says Jamaat-e-Islami Hind
Organisation says funding for minorities is less than 1% of the ₹4.48 lakh crore state budget despite their 15% population share.
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Karnataka has expressed concern over what it called an inadequate allocation for minority welfare in the latest state budget.
Addressing reporters in Bengaluru on Saturday, the organisation’s state president Mohammed Sa’ad Belgami said the budget allocation does not reflect the population share or development needs of minority communities in the state.
The Karnataka government recently presented a budget with a total outlay of ₹4.48 lakh crore. According to Belgami, around ₹3,400 crore has been earmarked for minority welfare programmes and schemes.
He pointed out that minorities make up nearly 15 percent of Karnataka’s population, yet the allocation for their welfare accounts for less than one percent of the overall budget.
“Allocating not even one percent of the total budget for minorities raises serious questions about fairness and proportional representation in public spending,” Belgami said.
He also referred to the election manifesto of the Indian National Congress, which had promised that the annual allocation for minority welfare would be increased to ₹10,000 crore.
According to him, the current allocation is lower than the previous figure of ₹4,700 crore, which represented about 1.18 percent of the total state budget.
Belgami said minority communities still face challenges in accessing quality education, employment opportunities, housing and support for entrepreneurship.
He stressed the need for stronger initiatives to expand scholarship programmes, strengthen minority educational institutions, promote skill development and encourage entrepreneurship among minority youth.
The organisation urged the state government to ensure that future budgets provide greater resources to support the educational, economic and social advancement of minority communities.
