BENGALURU: In a move to promote inter-faith and inter-community harmony at the school level, social welfare minister Kota Srinivas Poojari recently announced a scheme under which the government plans to introduce Deen Dayal ‘Communal Harmony’ hostels.
But admission to these hostels will be based on community reservation and will be dependent on the number of applications and existing policies for state-run hostels.
Poojari said the communal harmony hostels will have a capacity of 1,000 beds each and will be located in five “communally sensitive” education centres of Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mysuru, Kalaburagi and Mangaluru.
“We will provide Rs 250 crore [Rs 50 crore each], for the construction of these hostels,” Poojari said. Land has been allotted for these hostels with 10 acres each in Belagavi and Dharwad, eight acres in Mangaluru and five acres in Mysuru and Kalaburagi.
As per plans with the social welfare department, the hostel will be built within university campuses and will have two wings, with a 500-bed facility for boys and a similar set up for girls.
“We intend to build the 1,000-bed facility within university campuses, but we will ensure there is adequate spacing between the girls and boys wing,” said social welfare commissioner Rakesh Sharma.
Interestingly though, to maintain parity in distribution of beds, the present reservation policies will be implemented.
“We currently have a 75:25 ratio in SC hostels, where 75% is reserved for the principal beneficiary community,” Sharma said. “Similarly, in communal harmony hostels, 30% beds will be reserved for SC/ST community children, 10% for backward classes and 15% for minority communities. ” The remaining 45% is expected to be open for all other communities.
At present, communal harmony hostels have registered about 1,000 admissions across five centres, with a capacity of 200 children in each of these centres.
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