Dr. Baljit Kaur, the Minister for Social Justice, Empowerment and Minorities, on Friday, chaired a special meeting with officials in Chandigarh to review various welfare schemes and initiatives being run by the department.
During the meeting, the Minister had an in-depth discussion with the Additional Chief Secretary of the department, Mr. Alok Shekhar and the Director, Mr. Sandeep Hans, regarding the functioning of the department and the outreach of its schemes to the public.
The officials provided detailed information about the implementation of welfare schemes under the department. The Minister discussed several key schemes during the meeting, including the Ashirwad Scheme, Post-Matric Scholarship, Adarsh Gram Yojana, Prime Minister's Abhyudaya Yojana, hostel-related schemes, and the buildings of Dr. Ambedkar Bhawans.
She directed the officials to ensure that Dr. Ambedkar Bhawans in districts be used for gyms and libraries to benefit the public. The Minister also emphasized that schemes such as low-interest loans under self-employment programs, the N.B.C. Scheme, and N.M.D. Welfare Schemes are being implemented to improve the social and economic standards of Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes, Economically Weaker Sections, and minorities.
She instructed that awareness camps be organized to ensure the direct benefit of these schemes reaches the people. Every citizen in the state should be made aware of these schemes to ensure they are not left behind.
The meeting was attended by the Director-cum-Joint Secretary of the Department of Social Justice, Empowerment, and Minorities, Raj Bahadur Singh, Deputy Director Ravinderpal Singh Sandhu, and other officials.