The State Minorities Development Corporation disbursed loans amounting to Rs. 138 crore to 825 beneficiaries from the Christian community here on Saturday.
Before distributing the cheques, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly N. Yogish Bhat said that economic empowerment of minorities was necessary and there was a need to focus on their education too.
He said that members of the minority community should be given training in skills that could benefit them. Christians, who were adept at jasmine cultivation, could be given more facilities in that field, he said.
Mr. Bhat said that it was necessary to conduct social audit of schemes to ascertain their efficacy.
Scheme
Chairman of the corporation N.B. Aboobacker said that under the Bharatiya Janata Party's rule, the corporation increased the number of schemes to 15 from five.
The corporation had utilised the Internet to deliver services to beneficiaries. There was a need to eliminate middlemen from delivery of services.
Such instances had been dealt with firmly in Chickaballapur and Raichur districts, he said.
President of the Christian Development Council Franklin Monteiro said that the government had allocated Rs. 370 crore for the welfare of Christians.
Of the amount, Rs. 6 crore had been set aside for renovation of religious institutions.
