Nai Manzil scheme was launched by Dr. Najma Heptullah, Union Minority Affairs Minister for minorities helping minority youth without a formal school-leaving certificate to obtain one and find better employment.
- The scheme seeks to bridge the academic and skill development gaps between deeni madrassas passouts and their mainstream counterparts.
- For the allocation for minority affairs, budget had allocated Rs. 3,734 crore to the Ministry which was cut down to Rs. 3,165 crore in the revised estimates.
- Scheme will be beneficial for minority dominated areas specially, Bihar and UP where most of the minority concentrated blocks are in these two states.
- This scheme also aims to provide educational intervention through bridge courses to people between 17 and 35 years of age so as to help them pass class XIII and X from distance medium educational system.
Ministry of Minority Affairs:
• The Ministry of Minority Affairs is the apex body for the central government’s regulatory and developmental programmes for the minority communities in India, which include Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (Parsis) and Jains notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
• It is a ministry of the Government of India established in 2006.
• As of 26 May 2014, head of the ministry, Minister of Minority Affairs is the cabinet minister Najma Heptullah.
• Moma Scholarship is a scholarship scheme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs initiated with the aim of supporting minority community’s student who are not financially strong and want to pursue higher studies in India.