5 days ago
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Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju connected Thursday (June 4, 2026) said minorities successful India bask afloat state and are capable to practise their religion and mode of beingness without hindrance. He said efforts were being made from extracurricular the state to task a mendacious communicative of persecution.
“No idiosyncratic had been compelled to permission the state due to the fact that of spiritual identity... Criticise authorities policies if you wish, but bash not dispersed falsehoods,” the Minister said portion attacking the Opposition.
Speaking astatine the Ministry’s ‘Reforms Utsav’ to people 12 years of the Narendra Modi government, Mr. Rijiju highlighted technology-driven initiatives but said that details of astir 45% of Waqf properties are yet to beryllium uploaded connected the UMEED portal and that issues connected assistance stay unresolved.
UMEED is simply a centralised integer level for real-time uploading, verification, and monitoring of Waqf properties. It was launched connected June 6, 2025, with an archetypal six-month deadline to registry astir 9 lakh specified properties dispersed crossed India.
“There are truthful galore shortcomings successful antithetic State Waqf boards... the documents of properties are faulty... successful immoderate places, thousands of acres are recorded connected paper, but the onshore connected crushed tells a antithetic story. We are continuously organising workshops and sessions to assistance Mutawallis registry the Waqf properties. It is simply a labour-intensive process and volition instrumentality immoderate time,” helium said.
The Minister admitted that assistance delivery, 1 of the Ministry’s largest payment initiatives, remained affected by investigations into alleged fraud successful respective States. Referring to cases wherever scholarships were reportedly claimed successful the names of fictitious students, Mr. Rijiju said helium hoped that ongoing CBI inquiries would reason soon and the programme could resume.
“We cannot commencement the scholarships by excluding those institutions which are being investigated for fraud. So we volition person to hold until the probe is finished,” helium added.
Mr. Rijiju said the Ministry’s yearly fund has accrued from ₹1,949 crore successful 2014 to ₹4,115 crore astatine present, a 111% jump. But authorities outreach efforts received constricted attraction and antagonistic developments attracted disproportionate coverage, helium said.
On the Munambam onshore quality successful Kerala, the Minister said the substance was nether introspection by the Law Ministry and emphasised that nary national should endure owed to administrative lapses oregon injustice.
AI for hajj
During the event, which was attended by beneficiaries of assorted schemes, the Ministry featured demos for an AI-enabled helpline for hajj pilgrims.
“The chatbot volition beryllium accessible done an app that pilgrims volition beryllium capable to spot telephone calls with, successful summation to being disposable connected WhatsApp. The dependable chatbot is lone disposable connected its ain app since WhatsApp calls are banned by the Saudi government,” an authoritative said.
There volition beryllium an escalation bot to grip analyzable queries wherever quality assistance is required, a Gnani.ai typical said astatine the event. The firm’s chatbot volition beryllium rolled retired successful the coming months connected the Ministry’s behalf and volition enactment queries successful 12 languages.
Gnani.ai volition integrate the Haj Suvidha app to alteration pilgrims to taxable applications by automatically fetching details from their passports utilizing telephone cameras. The integration besides supports automated refunds wherever eligible.
The Ministry besides signed an MoU with EkStep Foundation to found a shared AI-enabled integer infrastructure, making it easier for artisans and minorities to observe livelihood opportunities and payment schemes.
Ministry Secretary Srivatsa Krishna outlined the Ministry’s imaginativeness for its 3rd word based connected the principles of ‘Reform, Perform, Transform and Inform’. He highlighted the important advancement made successful digitisation, accomplishment development, acquisition empowerment and transparency successful work delivery.
