An amount of INR 250 crores has been provided by the Government of India to the Maulana Azad Education Foundation (MAEF). The Foundation has been registered under Societies Registration Act – 1860, in 1989. The fund has been given to the Foundation through the Ministry of Minority Affairs to implement grant-in-aid to NGO for construction of school, hostel building etc., Scholarship to girl students belonging to minority communities. The funding of the above schemes is done from the interest income of the Corpus Fund, invested in banks. The Foundation has provided financial assistance in the form of grant of INR 117 crores (approx.) to 893 NGO and scholarships of INR 30 crores (approx.) to 26,000 minority girl students since 1989. Out of this, Foundation has given grant of INR 17 crores to 124 NGOs and scholarships of over INR 14 crores to 12,064 girls student belonging to minorities in the current financial year 2008-09 (upto January '09), thus registering substantial increase over the annual performance during the past years. In view of increasing demand from NGO and other institutions for funds from MAEF, the CCEA was requested to approve additional Corpus Fund of INR 500 crores to be released during the 11th Five Year Plan. Thus by the end of the current Plan period (i.e. by 2011-12), the Foundation will have a Corpus Fund of INR 700 crores. Out of this, INR 60 crores will be released during current year (2008-09).
It is noteworthy that the Foundation had a Corpus Fund of only INR 100 crores till 2005-06. The present augmentation of Corpus Fund of MAEF will go a long way in supplementing the efforts of the Government in providing education to educationally backward minority communities.
