To establish direct dialogue with the minorities, the Union minority ministry on Sunday held a "Progress Panchayat" at Kishangarh Bas in Alwar, Rajasthan. The initiative was launched in 2016 from Mewat in Haryana so that policies could be trimmed according to their needs and delivery of schemes could be ensured to encourage their mainstreaming.
Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the Modi Government was "determined to development without any discrimination" and that "we have ensured that all sections of the society including Minorities are becoming an equal partner of development process".
Addressing the panchayat, Naqvi said that by defeating those people who wanted to disrupt the process of development, the government was following the path of "empowerment without appeasement" and "development with dignity" so that the "light of development" reached all the needy sections.
Attacking the previous Congress regimes, Naqvi said the blockade of "loot lobby" from "power corridors" had ensured that each and every penny of the government money was being utilised for the welfare of the needy. "Some people are unable to digest the atmosphere of trust and development created by the Modi Government. These people are trying to disturb the atmosphere of development through their negative agenda. But, the Modi Government will not allow any destructive agenda to dominate our development agenda."
Naqvi said his ministry's schemes such as "Hunar Haat", "Seekho aur Kamao", "Nai Manzil", "Gharib Nawaz Skill Development Scheme", "Nai Roushni" have proved to be an important step towards the skill development of minorities. In the past three years, these schemes have succeeded in providing job opportunities to more than 50 lakh people from minority communities.
