India’s Finance Minister P. Chidambaram does not want the country to grow at a fast rate leaving behind women, the backward castes and tribes and minorities mainly Muslims. Pointing out that India is still the third fastest growing country in the world, he told the Indian Parliament “Our goal is higher growth leading to inclusive and sustainable development,” while presenting the Union Budget 2013-14 yesterday. In line with this he has allocated Rs. 35.11 billion to the Ministry of Minority Affairs. This is an increase of 12 percent over the budget estimate and 60 percent over the revised estimate of 2012-13.

When it comes to education of Muslims, the Maulana Azad Education Foundation is the main vehicle to implement educational schemes and channelize funds to non-government organizations. Its corpus today stands at Rs. 7.5 billion. With the objective of raising it to Rs. 15 billion during the 12th Plan period (2012-17), the finance minister proposed to allocate Rs. 1.6 billion to the corpus fund. The Foundation also wants to add medical aid to its objectives. “I have accepted that a beginning can be made by providing medical facilities such as an infirmary or a resident doctor in the educational institutions run or funded by the Foundation. I propose to allocate Rs. 1 billion to launch this initiative,” he declared. Continuing the tradition of supporting institutions of excellence, the minister proposed to make a grant of Rs. 1 billion to Aligarh Muslim University along with three others.

Chidambaram proposed to impose a surcharge of 10 percent on persons whose taxable income exceeds Rs. 1 billion per year. He justified it with a special praise to India’s Muslim business tycoon, Azim Premji, chairman of IT giant Wipro Limited, known for his philanthropy.

“I believe there is a little bit of the spirit of Mr. Azim Premji in every affluent tax payer. I am confident that when I ask the relatively prosperous to bear a small burden for one year, just one year, they will do so cheerfully,” he added.