Says isolated incidents must not disrupt spirit of harmony
Margao: During his visit to South Goa on Thursday, Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju pledged extensive central support to upgrade infrastructure and drive entrepreneurship in areas of Goa with significant minority populations.
Interacting with beneficiaries of the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC), the minister said that Goa has not yet fully utilised the central welfare funds allocated to it. To address this, Rijiju announced plans to collaborate directly with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, ensuring that local communities effectively access and benefit from central programmes.
Central to this developmental push is the government’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK), which provides crucial gap funding for essential community infrastructure. Rijiju said that in regions where notified minority communities, including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis, make up more than 25% of the population, the Centre can fully fund projects like school buildings, medical centres, sports stadiums, libraries and skill-training facilities.
Recognising Goa’s high development standards and its thriving tourism, fisheries and small-scale industries, the minister urged local officials to maximise these resources to unlock the state’s full economic potential.
Economic empowerment through financial self-reliance was another major focal point of the minister’s address.
Highlighting the ministry’s skill development initiatives such as the ‘TA Vikas’ programme, Rijiju urged officials to revamp the NMDFC’s concessional loan schemes to make them more appealing to youth and women entrepreneurs. He said that in several other states, educated unemployed youth have successfully used these loans to become self-reliant job creators.
The minister shared plans to host a large-scale minority artisans’ fair in Goa, mirroring successful platforms in Srinagar and Dehradun, to help local creators market their products.
Rijiju also addressed the current temporary suspension of minority scholarship schemes, clarifying that the freeze was implemented due to allegations of fund misuse and irregularities by certain institutions. The matter is currently under a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe and will remain paused until the investigation is resolved, he said.
The minister specifically noted that members of the Christian community have historically been major beneficiaries of these overseas scholarships, and he praised their significant, long-standing contributions to India’s education sector.
Rijiju stressed the absolute necessity of maintaining communal harmony and urged the public to guard against misinformation spread via social media.
Characterising India as a deeply multicultural and diverse nation where peaceful coexistence is paramount, he cautioned that isolated incidents should never be allowed to disrupt the broader spirit of national unity and social harmony.
