Credit for minorities Govt146;s priority No.1

After accepting all the recommendations of the Sachar Committee, the Government is now taking steps to implement them. It plans to start with ...

After accepting all the recommendations of the Sachar Committee, the Government is now taking steps to implement them. It plans to start with the complete overhaul of the National Minorities Development 038; Finance Corporation NMDFC to provide concessional credit to economically backward sections among minorities.

As part of its plan, the Government is likely to do away with the 8220;monopolistic mercy8221; of state channelising agencies SCAs of NMDFC by bringing in more channels to increase competition. More importantly, Government support to these agencies will depend on performance in delivering concessional credit to minorities.

8220;The outreach of NMDFC has not lived up to expectations. In view of this, we are going to change the look of the corporation this year,8221; said Union Secretary for Minority Affairs M N Prasad during the annual NMDFC conference here on Tuesday.

The Government is currently examining a report submitted by an expert committee of bankers, which was asked to study the functioning of the NMDFC in order to increase its effectiveness. The committee has recommended supplementing the current system of SCAs with other competitive channels to expand operations and its reach significantly. The failure of state agencies and successful performance of new channels will mean the Government can go ahead with these new channels to extend credit to minorities.

In addition, the Government is also planning to strengthen the current state channelising agencies by providing 100 per cent grant-in-aid to state minority development and finance corporations in the first year. However, the subsequent financial assistance for strengthening these state agencies would depend upon their performance. Prasad said the scheme was going to get the final approval from the Government in a month8217;s time.

In another major step, the Government plans to constitute a separate wing for development of Waqf properties under NMDFC, which will be entrusted with the responsibility for the benefit of the Muslim community.

In the wake of the debate on the plight of Muslims in the country, the Government has been concerned about the performance of NMDFC, which has been in operation for more than 15 years but has so far managed to provide financial assistance to only 3.35 lakh beneficiaries amounting to Rs 915 crore.