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NEW DELHI: In what the minority affairs ministry said was a record since Independence, 131 candidates from minority communities , including 51 Muslims, cleared the civil services examination in 2017. The total number of successful candidates in the exam was 990.

The break-up for other minority communities was not available but ministry sources said they included Christians, Sikhs, Jains, neo-Buddhists and a lone Parsi.

In the 2016 UPSC exam , 126 youths from minority communities, including 52 Muslims, were selected out of the total 1,099 candidates.

Officials said under the ‘Nai Udaan’ and ‘Naya Savera’ schemes, the minority affairs ministry last year revised the financial assistance for those qualifying the UPSC preliminary exam from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh. During 2017-18, 105 youth from notified minority communities who qualified the preliminary exam were provided financial assistance.

Through various institutions and organisations, the ministry has been running coaching programmes for minority youths preparing for civil services, other UPSC examinations, medical, engineering and administrative examinations.

Touting the figures as a sign of growing presence of minority communities in decision-making roles in the government, minority affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the Centre was committed to create an “environment to enable talent from minority communities to come forward and make their presence felt”.

“This year, there are six Muslims, including three women, in the top 100,” Naqvi said.

Meanwhile, he said the government had floated a global tender seeking applications from shipping firms as part of its efforts to revive the option of sending pilgrims for Haj by sea. Saudi Arabia had earlier given its nod for sea travel to Jeddah, over two decades after the practice was stopped. “The secretary and joint secretary from the ministry will hold talks in Saudi Arabia on issues related to travel of Haj pilgrims by sea,” Naqvi said. The journey via sea route would take three or four days.

