PUTRAJAYA: A total of RM3.28mil has been allocated to Indian places of worship for human capital and community development programmes, rather than for building maintenance, says Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R. Ramanan (pic).
He said the funds, channelled through the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra), would be disbursed under the Harmoni Madani and Dharma Madani programmes.
“Under Harmoni Madani, RM1.38mil will be distributed to 57 gurdwaras and 12 churches.
“Each place of worship will receive RM20,000 to support religious, spiritual, cultural and community-based activities,” he said at the launch of the Dharma Madani and Harmoni Madani programmes yesterday.
Under the second phase of Dharma Madani, RM1.9mil will be allocated to 95 Hindu temples, he added.
Ramanan urged recipients to use the funds wisely and ensure the programmes benefit their communities.
“If you use this money well, I promise you, I will give more. I will fight to secure more for you. But use it wisely.
“The feedback we receive must be positive, and the community must benefit. Then all of us can continue doing more good. We can create better opportunities and bring more hope,” he said.
Ramanan also highlighted several education initiatives under a programme called Kalvi Madani, including tuition assistance and the provision of smart boards for Tamil schools.
“Previously, we only provided smart boards to selected Tamil schools based on pupil enrolment. Now, every Tamil school will receive a smart board,” he said.
He added that another programme, which is Peranti Madani, would continue providing free laptops to university students, stressing that all devices distributed under the programme were brand new.
“Not second-hand, not refurbished. Instead, we are providing brand-new laptops to everyone with the additional funding available,” he said.
Ramanan also thanked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for increasing Mitra’s allocation from RM100mil to RM150mil.
He clarified that the RM50mil allocated for maintenance and repair works at Tamil vernacular schools would be directed towards newly identified schools that were not included in the previous allocation.
Separately, Ramanan said Mitra plans to seek additional funding for future rounds of the Uyarvu Madani grant programme after receiving 8,368 applications, far exceeding the number of entrepreneurs it can currently support.
He said the programme is expected to benefit about 1,100 to 1,150 entrepreneurs across its first two phases, particularly those from the B40 group.
Ramanan said several announcements related to Deepavali and the community, which were discussed at a Cabinet meeting, would be made soon by the Prime Minister.
