Awareness about Welfare Schemes

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 

MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS 

LOK SABHA 

STARRED QUESTION No.47 

TO BE ANSWERED ON 06.02.2019 

Awareness about Welfare Schemes 

47. SHRI BHEEMRAO B. PATIL 

Will the Minister of MINORITYAFFAIRS be pleased to state: 

• (a) whether the Government has evaluated the performance of its awareness campaign initiated to create awareness of the schemes/programmes among the minority communities meant for their welfare and if so, the details and the outcome thereof; 

• (b) whether there is an increase in beneficiaries of the said schemes/programmes after such awareness campaign and if so, the details thereof; and 

• (c) the other steps taken/being taken by the Government in this direction? 

ANSWER 

MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS 

(SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI) 

(a) to (c) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House. 

Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (c) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. *47 asked by Shri Bheemrao B. Patil, Member of Parliament, regarding ‘ Awareness about Welfare Schemes’. 

(a) to (c) The awareness campaign is carried out under the Scheme of Research/Studies, Monitoring and Evaluation of Development Schemes including Publicity of this Ministry to create awareness among the six centrally notified minority communities, namely, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Jains, about the schemes/programmes implemented by this Ministry for their welfare in the country. An evaluation study of this scheme of awareness has been conducted in 2014 by Centre for Management Development, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala and a copy of this Study Report is available on the website of the Ministry at www.minorityaffairs.gov.in. Based on the recommendations of this Study, the scheme has been revised and approved for implementation during 2017-18 to 2019-20. A copy of the Guidelines of this scheme is also available on the website of the Ministry at www.minorityaffairs.gov.in.

Awareness campaigns carried out by this Ministry have created positive impact on the targeted beneficiaries which has resulted in increase in the number of applications received in case of the three scholarship schemes, namely, Pre-matric, Post-matric and Merit-cum-Means based scholarship schemes, of this Ministry. Similarly, other schemes of the Ministry have also been benefitted through positive impact on the targeted groups through the nationwide awareness campaigns. The table shows number of application received in Scholarship Schemes in last three years:- 

Year	No. of applications received
	Fresh	Renewal	Total
Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme
2016-17	79,90,410	6,45,018		86,35,428
2017-18	68,49,107	28,00,954		96,50,061
2018-19*	73,40,678	35,30,567		1,08,71,245
Post-matric Scholarship Scheme
2016-17	16,84,357	1,19,292		18,03,649
2017-18	14,85,514	2,49,805		17,35,319
2018-19*	17,49,083	2,62,918		20,12,001
Merit-cum-Means Scholarship Scheme
2016-17	2,08,374	72,265		2,80,639
2017-18	1,75,248	73,849		2,49,097
2018-19*	2,54,566	72,765		3,27,331

*As on 31.01.2019. 

The State/UT-wise details of applications received and number of beneficiaries under the said three scholarship schemes and details of funds allocated & number of beneficiaries in case of other welfare schemes implemented by MoMA are available on the website of the Ministry at www.minorityaffairs.gov.in.

The Government has taken up multi-media campaign to spread awareness of welfare schemes meant for minorities through print and electronic media, All India Radio Network including FM Channels, and websites all over the country. Pocket booklets and pamphlets on various schemes / programmes of the Ministry are published in Hindi, English, Urdu and other regional languages. In order to directly reach out to the public especially minority communities and spread awareness among them, ‘Progress Panchayats’ are organized in various places. Regional Coordination & Review Conferences are also held with State Governments from time to time where, inter-alia, information about the Ministry’s schemes is provided. In addition, outdoor publicity is also being done by organizing ‘Hunar Haat’. Recently, Hunar Haats have been organized at (i) India International Trade Fair 2016, 2017 & 2018, (ii) Baba Kharak Singh Marg, New Delhi in February 2017, February 2018& January 2019, (iii) Puducherry in September, 2017, & October, 2018, (iv) Mumbai in January 2018 & December 2018, and (v) Allahabad in September 2018, to further promote traditional crafts/arts, generate employment and strengthen their market linkages. The Ministry also supports workshops and seminars organized by NGOs and State Organisations for creating awareness about its programmes and schemes.