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By Masood Hasan

The Milli Gazette Online

Lucknow: To woo members of the minority community and to keep intact his votebank, UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has made a special package for the members of the minority in the Budget 2005-06.

In the last budget the state government had made a budgetary provision of nearly Rs. 940 million for the establishment of the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Urdu University in Rampur but it could not be materialized because of the stand taken by the state governor T.V. Rajeswar who opposed the appointment of the Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mohammad Azam Khan as the pro-chancellor of the proposed university for life.

The Congress Party and other opposition parties too objected to the appointment of Azam Khan as the pro-chancellor of the proposed university for life. The state government headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav is silent on this issue in the current budget.

The UP government has earmarked a special package worth about Rs 72.4 million for the members of the minority community and has launched ambitious schemes for the uplift of Muslims living below poverty line. Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has presented the budget for the year 2005-06 providing for students of professional courses belonging to the minority community scholarships amounting to Rs. 1000 per month. 

The state government has launched an scholarship scheme in memory of the Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar. The budget has provided ample scope in the field of education to Muslim students of the state. As many as 200 students selected for professional courses like M.B.B.S, M.B.A, M.C.A, B.B.A, I.I.T and I.I.M. will get Rs. 1000 per month on the basis of merit. The Model Montessori School in Rampur where Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar was confined will be developed as a heritage site at the cost of Rs. 10.1 million.

Chief Minister Yadav has announced in the state assembly that coaching arrangements for professional and competitive courses for minority students in the fields of medicine and engineering will be made in Lucknow.

Another proposal envisaged in the budget is the computerisation of the 140 madarsas with the Aalia status in the state. The state government has decided to spend Rs. 15.4 million under this head. The Government has also decided to revive the Oriental College of Rampur which was once a pioneering institution of Arabic education. The Government has earmarked for Rs. 19.9 million for this institution. Similarly, a provision of Rs. 24.5 million has been made for the establishment of a park in memory of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar in Rampur. In order to modernise madarsa education, the government has decided to continue maths, science, Hindi and English in the syllabus. The scheme launched earlier for the uplift of the richshaw-pullers of the minority community will continue in the year 2005-06. «