Minorities victims of vote bank politics, says DVS

 
Speaking after inaugurating a function organised by Karnataka Minority Development Corporation to distribute the benefits of various schemes for the minority section to the beneficiaries here on Saturday, he said that various political parties that ruled the state all these years have used the people belonging to minority communities for their political gain without any concern for the development of these sections.

These people are victims of vote bank politics and are used by various political parties as pawns for their own political gains.  DV said that the total budgetary allocation made in the last 20 years in Udupi district for the welfare of the minorities was mere Rs 1.42 crore while the BJP government during the last one year, has allocated Rs 64 lakh.  e stressed that the minorities should realise their rights to avail the various government benefits and strive for their own development. The people from the minority sections should also actively involve in the mass contact programmes and gram sabha meetings.

In his introductory remarks Karnataka Minority development Board Chairman N B Abubakkar informed that the Corporation has decided to donate Rs 4 crore to the flood victims of North Karnataka. The Corporation has distributed Rs 16 crore benefiting 16,000 minority students to pursue their education. This year, it has already spent 2 crore to benefit 9,000 students in the State, he added.  The department concerned of the Central government has agreed to include 17 more districts under cluster scheme with a sanction of Rs 77.7 crore this year for taking up various centrally sponsored programmes as against Rs 4 crore it had released during the last two year for two districts.