Report Says Modi Govt Will Scrap Minority Affairs Ministry

The Modi government is reportedly planning to scrap the Minority Affairs ministry, which was set up by UPA regime in 2006, and merge it with Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, reports Deccan Herald.

The government is likely to continue all the schemes being implemented by the ministry.

“The BJP-led NDA government is of the view that there is no need for an independent ministry for minority affairs," a source in the government was quoted in the Deccan Herald report as saying.

The government believes that the ministry was created as part of UPA’s appeasement policy, the source said.

However, the government has now refuted the media report, saying that the claim made in the report about scrapping of the ministry was 'fake' and that 'no such proposal is under consideration'.

The UPA government had carved out the Minority Affairs Ministry from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

In the Deccan Herald report, it was claimed that the Central government wants to bring the ministry back under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as the Department of Minority Affairs.

At present, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani is holding additional charge of the Ministry of Minority Affairs after Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi resigned in July on expiry of his Rajya Sabha term.