ABDUL WAHAB KHAN | NT
Staff Reporter
PANAJI
Almost four years have passed since the Goa State Minorities Finance Development Corporation (GSMFDC) has been constituted in the state but till date the state government has neither made any efforts to appoint board of directors on it nor has it been able to establish an office premises for its functioning.
Since the Corporation was incorporated on September 26, 2011, as a non-profit organisation, under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956, the file has remained pending with the chief minister’s office for appointment of the board of directors and allotment of office premises for the economic empowerment of minority communities.
The Corporation has been mandated to provide education loans to students and business development loans to entrepreneurs belonging to the minority communities comprising of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains.
Except for the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Goa, National Minorities Finance Development Corporation (NMFDC) has its channelising agency in all other states and Union territories to reach the ultimate beneficiaries. NMFDC is a national level apex body for the benefit of minorities as defined under the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992.
The state government, this year in the financial budget has proposed Rs 33.65 lakh for GSMFDC for the development of minority communities in the state while last year, the provision made was about Rs 50 lakh, but the funds were diverted to other social welfare-run minorities’ scholarship scheme.
“Though the government has been making financial provision in its annual budget for the last two years, the money has never been utilised for the purpose. Since in files, it claims to have only registered a Corporation for minorities. It is now for the state government to take a call to constitute a commission with full-fledged board of directors and well-established office premises,” said a highly placed source in the social welfare department.
Goa comprises of mainly Muslim and Christian minority population. The state has well functional commissions and financial corporation for communities belonging to SC, ST and OBC population but in the absence of the department of minorities’ welfare in the state, the minorities of the state are not getting the benefits of all those schemes which have been introduced by the Centre for their development and welfare.
An official source in the social welfare department, who is the implementing agency for the Corporation, said that “in December 2011, a file was moved to the chief minister’s office as well as general administration department for the constitution of board of directors and to allot premises for housing the minority finance corporation office and for which two sites were identified for office premises at Old Education building and Central Library building, but till date no appointments have been made and no office has been allotted. The main concern of our department at the moment is to ensure functioning of the corporation in the overall interest of the minority communities of the state.”
Under the Corporation, students belonging to minorities will get a loan of up to Rs 2 lakh for one-year courses, Rs 3 lakh for two-year courses, Rs 4.5 lakh for three-year courses and Rs 7.5 lakh for courses extending up to five years. A total amount of Rs 20 lakh will be given to students taking up higher studies abroad. The rate of interest will be three per cent. Business development loans will be given with the aim of helping entrepreneurs expand their business activities. Loans up to Rs 3 lakh will be given to those from the minority communities at seven per cent interest for 72 months.
Since 1994, in the country, the NMFDC has till date disbursed about Rs 3,044.73 crore by way of loans and advances to promote self-employment and other ventures while benefitting about 10, 91,928 beneficiaries.