Frugal funds, fading promises: Budget 2026 exposes shrinking space for minority welfare

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* 

The Ministry of Minority Affairs was established in 2006 during the tenure of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, following the findings of the Sachar Committee, which documented that Muslims were among the most educationally and economically disadvantaged communities in India. The ministry was conceived as a corrective institutional response to deep structural inequalities faced by religious minorities, particularly Muslims, through focused policy interventions.

Its mandate included educational empowerment, area and infrastructure development, skill development, and economic empowerment. Over the years, schemes such as pre- and post-matric scholarships, the Prime Minister’s Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK), and employment-linked initiatives like PM VIKAS were designed to bridge socio-economic gaps between minority communities and the national average.

However, since 2014, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has witnessed consistent budgetary contraction, closure or merger of key schemes, and persistent under-utilisation of allocated funds. In several instances, funds earmarked for specific purposes were either not released in time or remained unspent, raising questions about administrative intent and political priority.

Another notable feature has been the steady reorientation and reduction of budgetary support for minority welfare schemes, despite minorities constituting nearly 20 per cent of India’s population. This trend cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader political climate, particularly the increasing hostility towards Muslims under the current dispensation. The ministry remains under constant political scrutiny, shaped by the growing influence of Hindutva ideology, making it the only social welfare ministry to face year-on-year budget cuts with such regularity.

In the Union Budget 2026, the total allocation for minority welfare stands at ₹3,400 crore, a figure that does not even approach 5 per cent of overall budgetary expenditure. This allocation followed the recommendations of a high-powered panel examining education and employment pathways for minority communities, yet the scale of funding remains strikingly inadequate.

The PMJVK scheme, intended to improve infrastructure in minority concentration areas, has seen further cuts, with an allocation of ₹303.27 crore in 2026–27, down from ₹312 crore in the previous fiscal year. The reduction has been attributed to lower committed liabilities, though the developmental needs on the ground remain largely unmet.

Scholarship schemes show marginal increases, with pre-matric scholarships allocated ₹198 crore and post-matric scholarships ₹581 crore, compared to ₹195 crore and ₹413 crore respectively in 2025–26. While these increases appear positive on paper, they fail to keep pace with inflation, rising educational costs, and the expanding pool of eligible students.

The Qawmi Waqf Board’s Taraqqiati Scheme and the Shahari Waqf Sampatti Vikas Yojana together have been allotted ₹32 crore in the 2026–27 budget, up from ₹13.5 crore in the previous year. This nearly two-and-a-half-fold increase must be seen in the context of the Waqf Amendment Act, as these schemes focus on digitisation of waqf records, protection of urban waqf land from encroachment, and commercial development to generate revenue. While framed as welfare-oriented, their outcomes remain contingent on governance safeguards and community participation.

Government schemes for minorities continue to emphasise education, skill development, and economic empowerment through initiatives such as Nai Roshni, Nai Udaan, NMDFC concessional loans, Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship, Naya Savera coaching programmes, and Padho Pardesh interest subsidies. In theory, these schemes aim to enhance access to education, employment, and entrepreneurship. In practice, however, questions persist about outreach, transparency, and actual impact.

Allocating ₹3,400 crore for six minority communities that together constitute nearly one-fifth of India’s population can only be described as grossly inadequate. Equally troubling is the uncertainty over how much of this allocation survives the revision process and how much ultimately reaches intended beneficiaries.

Past experiences have shown that funds allocated to the Ministry of Minority Affairs have often been vulnerable to administrative lapses, delays, and allegations of corruption. This history casts serious doubt on the present government’s commitment to minority welfare.

If the current trajectory continues, the issue will not merely be a decline in funding for individual schemes, but a gradual erosion of decades-long efforts to integrate historically marginalised communities into the national mainstream. The annual budgetary exercise risks becoming a matter of accounting optics rather than a sincere policy commitment, masking a deeper and more systematic indifference.

A ministry created to uplift minorities now appears to be steadily hollowed out under the present political dispensation. Budget 2026 reinforces the perception that minority welfare has been relegated from a developmental priority to a token gesture, raising fundamental questions about inclusion, equity, and the idea of social justice in contemporary India.

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*Journalist based in Chennai