Rs800m for human rights, minorities affairs

LAHORE

The Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Department represented by Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu has been allocated Rs 800 million for the upcoming fiscal year 2016-17 which is an impressive 37-5 percent more than the previous year’s 500 million rupees. 

Under the last year’s budget, 463 million rupees were spent on development schemes for minorities. Rs 22 million had been earmarked for scholarships for minority community students. Rs 15m were spent on creating awareness about human rights. In 2014 meanwhile, 580 educational scholarships were awarded to minority community students across the province. New schemes include rehabilitation of railway road in Nankana Sahib (Rs 30m), sanitation and street pavement surrounding Gurdwara Janam Asthan in Nankana Sahib (Rs20m), development schemes of minorities (705m), educational scholarships for minority students (25m), public awareness of human rights (Rs12m), and human rights sensitisation among public servants through trainings (Rs8m).