TSIT ■ Guntur
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday said that education serves the Muslim community well to achieve better living standards and excel in the competitive world.
Participating in the Minority Welfare Day and National Education Day celebrations held at Sri Venkateswara Vignan Mandiram here, marking the 135th birth anniversary of India’s first Education Minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, he said the government had laid special focus on education.He referred to the appeal made for exempting Class X certificate for Muslims to avail Tohfa scheme.
“If the provision of Class X certificate was exempted for the scheme, there would be a setback. My intention is that Muslim students should study and compete with the world,” he said.Recalling the services of the country’s first Education Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy said Azad’s services were laudable. Former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was the first person to provide reservations for Muslims.“If Rajasekhara Reddy took one step forward for the welfare of minorities, I will take two steps forward. I am proud to be the son of a great leader.
We have given the post of Deputy Chief Minister to a minority candidate and four persons as MLCs.”
The Chief Minister said Rs 10,309 crore was given to the minorities through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in the last three years. Another Rs 10,000 crore was also given to the minorities through non-DBT.
During his tenure, former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu gave Rs. 2,665 crores to the minorities over five years. Within three years, the government has given over Rs 20,000 crores for the welfare of the minorities, he said.
Referring to the protection of alienated Waqf properties in the state, Jagan Mohan Reddy said that measures were being taken to protect Waqf properties in the state and so far 580 acres of alienated land out of total 65,783 acres was given back to the Waqf Board.
