Minister directs officials to end the middlemen menace in Minorities Development Corporation
Bengaluru, Jun 13: Karnataka Housing and Minorities Welfare Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan on Tuesday instructed officials concerned to put an end to the menace of middlemen in the Minorities Development Corporation and to maintain transparency in the selection of beneficiaries by giving wide publicity to the schemes of the Corporation.
Reviewing the progress at the Corporation hall here on Tuesday, he said that the Minorities Development Corporation should not have schemes for name-sake but it must be implemented effectively by promoting it across the state, according to a statement issued by his office.
There is a need for undertaking a massive campaign to make the community know of the schemes available with the Minorities Department and Development Corporation, the minister was quoted as saying.
Khan insisted that it should be made mandatory to get a 10 percent contribution from the beneficiaries in the taxi, auto, and goods vehicle loan scheme offered by the corporation. Besides, the Corporation itself must coordinate with the banks and ensure the loans are sanctioned under the Single Window scheme, he added.
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Expressing displeasure over the 15 per cent loan recovery rate of the Minorities Development Corporation, the minister wanted the recovery to be at least 50 per cent.
As much as Rs 760 crore was disbursed as the education loan was pending and that must be recovered by offering a one-time settlement with waiving off interest on the loan amounts, the statement read.
"If women from the Minority community come forward to open startups, they must be given all financial assistance along with subsidies. For the victims of communal clashes, the funds available under the 'Maneya Malige' must be utilised for their rehabilitation," the Minister said.
Khan said the corporation has sanctioned Rs 31 crore to the slum board for the construction of houses for the poor and a progress report must be prepared to know whether this scheme has benefitted them or not.
As there is a need for the continuation of the scheme, a fresh proposal must be prepared. Besides, a detailed report must be prepared earlier to seek government grants in the state budget for the implementation of various schemes of the Corporation, he added.
"He also launched a Rs 10 crore scheme to help students to study abroad which was stalled by the previous BJP government, and also a direct loan of Rs 5 lakh to 20 lakh given to start own business," the statement said.
The Minister also handed over 12 taxis, 12 autos, and four goods autos to the beneficiaries.
Khan announced setting up a task force to protect Waqf assets and steps will be taken to construct compound walls for all properties.
A divisional-level office will be set up at the local level to protect waqf properties and redress grievances at the local level, he added.
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US SC rejects 26/11 attack accused Tahawwur Rana’s plea seeking stay on his extradition to India
New York, Apr 7 (PTI): The US Supreme Court has rejected 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Tahawwur Rana's appeal seeking a stay on his extradition to India, moving him closer to being handed over to Indian authorities to face justice.
Rana, 64, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles.
He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks. Headley conducted a recce of Mumbai before the attacks by posing as an employee of Rana’s immigration consultancy.
Rana had submitted an ‘Emergency Application For Stay Pending Litigation of Petition For Writ of Habeas Corpus' on February 27, 2025, with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and Circuit Justice for the Ninth Circuit Elena Kagan.
Kagan had denied the application earlier last month.
Rana had then renewed his ‘Emergency Application for Stay Pending Litigation of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus previously addressed to Justice Kagan’, and requested that the renewed application be directed to US Chief Justice John Roberts.
An order on the Supreme Court website noted that Rana's renewed application had been “distributed for Conference” on April 4 and the “application” has been “referred to the Court.”
A notice on the Supreme Court website Monday said that “Application denied by the Court.”
Rana was convicted in the US of one count of conspiracy to provide material support to the terrorist plot in Denmark and one count of providing material support to Pakistan-based terrorist organisation Lashker-e-Taiba which was responsible for the attacks in Mumbai.
New York-based Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra had told PTI that Rana had made his application to the Supreme Court to prevent extradition, which Justice Kagan denied on March 6. The application was then submitted before Roberts, “who has shared it with the Court to conference so as to harness the entire Court’s view.”
The Supreme Court justices are Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Elena Kagan, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In his emergency application, Rana had sought a stay of his extradition and surrender to India pending litigation (including exhaustion of all appeals) on the merits of his February 13.
In that petition, Rana argued that his extradition to India violates US law and the UN Convention Against Torture "because there are substantial grounds for believing that, if extradited to India, the petitioner will be in danger of being subjected to torture."
"The likelihood of torture in this case is even higher though as petitioner faces acute risk as a Muslim of Pakistani origin charged in the Mumbai attacks,” the application said.
The application also said that his “severe medical conditions” render extradition to Indian detention facilities a “de facto" death sentence in this case.
The US Supreme Court denied Rana's petition for a writ of certiorari relating to his original habeas petition on January 21. The application notes that on that same day, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio had met with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Washington on February 12 to meet with Trump, Rana’s counsel received a letter from the Department of State, stating that “on February 11, 2025, the Secretary of State decided to authorise” Rana’s "surrender to India,” pursuant to the “Extradition Treaty between the United States and India”.
Rana’s Counsel requested from the State Department the complete administrative record on which Secretary Rubio based his decision to authorize Rana’s surrender to India.
The Counsel also requested immediate information of any commitment the United States has obtained from India with respect to Rana’s treatment. “The government declined to provide any information in response to these requests,” the application said.
It added that given Rana’s underlying health conditions and the State Department’s findings regarding the treatment of prisoners, it is very likely “Rana will not survive long enough to be tried in India".
During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Modi in the White House in February, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.
A total of 166 people, including six Americans, were killed in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in which 10 Pakistani terrorists laid a more than 60-hour siege, attacking and killing people at iconic and vital locations in Mumbai.
