Guidelines for implementation of Prime Minister's 15 Point program - an active Central Government bill introduced in 2005




GUIDELINES
for implementation of
Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities


The Hon’ble President, in his address to the Joint Session of Parliament on February 25, 2005, had announced that the Government would recast the 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities with a view to incorporate programme specific interventions. Prime Minister, in his address on the occasion of Independence Day, 2005, announced inter-alia that “We will also revise and revamp the 15 Point Programme for Minorities. The new 15 Point Programme will have definite goals which are to be achieved in a specific time frame”. In pursuance of these commitments, the earlier programme has been revised as the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities. A copy of the programme is enclosed.

2. The objectives of the programme are as follows:-a) Enhancing opportunities for education.


b) Ensuring an equitable share for minorities in economic activities and employment, through existing and new schemes, enhanced credit support for self-employment, and recruitment to State and Central Government jobs.


c) Improving the conditions of living of minorities by ensuring an appropriate share for them in infrastructure development schemes.


d) Prevention and control of communal disharmony and violence.


3. An important aim of the new programme is to ensure that the benefits of various government schemes for the underprivileged reach the disadvantaged sections of the minority communities. The underprivileged among the minorities are, of course, included in the target groups of various government schemes. But in order to ensure that the benefits of these schemes flow equitably to minorities, the new programme envisages location of a certain proportion of development projects in minority concentration areas. It also provides that, wherever possible, 15% of targets and outlays under various schemes should be earmarked for minorities.
4. The emphasis of the programme on the maintenance of communal peace and harmony, through appropriate measures, and ensuring a reasonable representation of minorities in government, including the public sector, remains as emphatic as ever and these continue to be important constituents of the new programme.
5. The programme does not envisage any change or relaxation of any criteria, norms or eligibility conditions in any scheme for minorities. These would continue to be as provided for in the original schemes included in the programme.
6. The term ‘substantial minority population’ in the 15 Point Programme applies to such districts/sub-district units where at least 25% of the total population of that unit belongs to minority communities.


7. (a) The target group of the programme consists of the eligible sections among the minorities notified under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992, viz, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis).
(b) In States, where one of the minority communities notified under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 is, in fact, in majority, the earmarking of physical/financial targets under different schemes will be only for the other notified minorities. These states are Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. Lakshadweep is the only Union Territory in this group.
8. The new programme will be implemented by Central Ministries / Departments concerned                       through      State      Governments      /      Union      Territories.      Each Ministry/Department concerned shall appoint a nodal officer, not below the rank of a Joint Secretary to Government of India, for this programme. The Ministry of Minority Affairs shall be the nodal Ministry for this programme.

9. Physical Targets and Financial Outlays:
Considering the complexity of the programme and its wide reach, wherever possible, Ministries/Departments concerned will earmark 15 percent of the physical targets and financial outlays for minorities. These will be distributed between States/UTs on the basis of the proportion of Below Poverty Line (BPL) population of minorities in a particular State/Union Territory to the total BPL population of minorities in the country, subject to the following:-
(a) (i) For schemes applicable exclusively to rural areas, only the ratio relevant to the BPL minority population in rural areas would be considered. (ii) For schemes applicable exclusively to urban areas, only the ratio relevant to the BPL minority population of urban areas would be considered.
(iii) For others, where such differentiation is not possible, the total would be considered.
(b) For States/UT referred to in para 7 (b), the earmarking will only be for the BPL minorities, other than that in majority.

10. The schemes amenable to such earmarking are the following:-
Point No. (A) Enhancing opportunities for Education
(1) Equitable availability of ICDS Services
Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme by providing services through Anganwadi Centres
(2) Improving access to School Education
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme, and other similar Government schemes.


Point No. (B) Equitable Share in Economic Activities and Employment
(7) Self-Employment and Wage Employment for the poor
(a) Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) (b) Swarn Jayanti Shahari Rojgar Yojana (SJSRY) (c) Sampurna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)


(8) Upgradation of skills through technical training
New Industrial training Institutes (ITI) and upgradation of existing ITI.




(9) Enhanced credit support for economic activities
(b) Bank credit under priority sector lending.
Point No. (C) Improving the conditions of living of minorities
(11) Equitable share in rural housing scheme Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)
(12) Improvement in condition of slums inhabited by minority communities
Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) and Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)

11. Implementation, Monitoring and Reporting – A. Ministry/Department Level:
Ministries/Departments      implementing     the     schemes,     included     in     the programme shall continue to implement and monitor these schemes with reference to the physical targets and financial outlays. They are expected to review the progress of the programme on a monthly basis and report the progress of implementation, in respect of the schemes under this programme, on a quarterly basis, by the fifteenth day of next quarter, to the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

B. State/UT Level:
(i) States/UTs are expected to constitute a State Level Committee for Implementation of the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities headed by the Chief Secretary with members consisting of the Secretaries and Heads of Departments implementing the schemes under the 15 Point Programme, representatives from the Panchayati Raj Institutions/Autonomous District Councils, three representatives from reputed non-governmental institutions dealing with minorities and three such other members considered appropriate by the state government/UT administration. The Department dealing with Minorities of the State/UT may be made the nodal department for monitoring the 15 Point Programme. The Committee should meet at least once every quarter and the Department dealing with Minorities of the State/UT may send a quarterly progress reports to the
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Ministry of Minority Affairs by the 15 day of the next quarter.


(ii) District Level:
Similarly, at the district level, a District Level Committee for Implementation of the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities may be constituted headed by the Collector/Deputy Commissioner of the district, with District level officers of the departments implementing the programme, representatives from the Panchayati Raj Institutions/Autonomous District Councils, and three representatives from reputed institutions dealing with minorities. The District Level Committee shall report progress of implementation to the Department dealing with Minorities of the state government/UT administration for placing it before the State Level Committee.

C. Central Level:
(i) At the central level, the progress of implementation, with reference to targets, will be monitored once in six months by a Committee of Secretaries (COS), and a report will be submitted to the Union Cabinet. The Ministry of


Minority Affairs shall be the nodal Ministry to prepare reports in this regard for placing before the COS and the Union Cabinet once in six months. All Ministries/Departments concerned with this programme shall submit quarterly
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reports to the Ministry of Minority Affairs by the 15 day of the next quarter.

(ii) There shall be a Review Committee for the Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of the Minorities headed by Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs, with nodal officers from all the Ministries/Department concerned which shall meet at least once every quarter to review the progress, obtain feedback and resolve problems and provide clarifications, as might be needed.

Links:

Achievements of schemes included in Prime Minister's new 15 Point Programme for the welfare of Minorities for the periods 2006-07 to 2014-15 .   PDF file

Targets and Achievements of schemes including schemes of Ministry of Minority Affairs covered under Prime Minister's new 15 Point Programme for the welfare of Minorities (2012-13 to 2014-15).  PDF file

List of schemes/initiatives covered under the Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme. PDF file

Prime Minister's new 15 Point Programme for the welfare of Minorities- Recruitment of Minorities (110 KB)  PDF file

Recruitment of persons belonging to minority communities in Central Govt. departments and Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs)during  

 Visit:
http://minorityaffairs.gov.in/pm15point
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