Govt welfare body functioning without knowing whom to benefit

New Delhi, Aug 6 (UNI) The National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC), which implements welfare schemes for target groups among minority communities, has been functioning for the last over ten years without knowing the number of those it was set up to help.

The fact came to light in the 18th report of Parliament's Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment tabled in its current session.

The government has been severely indicted by the Committee for this lapse.

No survey has so far been conducted by the Government to find out the number of minority community members living below double the poverty to determine those eligible for financial assitsance of the NMDFC, in the absence of which it was impossible to assess the impact of spending of the scarce public money for their welfare, said the Committee.

The NMDFC, which earlier functioned under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is now under the newly created Ministry of Minority Affairs.

The Committee refused to buy the explanation of the Ministry that they had requested the Planning Commission and the National Sample Survey Organisation to conduct the survey.

It also found as unconvincing the argument that the survey could not be conducted as a massive expenditure and administrative machinery was required.

''The committee said that instead of simply requesting the Planning Commission and the NSS, the Ministry should have pursued them to conduct the survey.

Without knowing the number of right kind of beneficiaries, it was impossible to formulate any comprehensive economic development schemes for them, the Report said.

Thus the basic objective of establishing the Corporation has been defeated, it added.

The Committee urged the newly created Minority Affairs Ministry to set up at the earliest a Statistical Data Collecting Cell to gather and update their data concerning minorities.

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