(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the functions of the Corporation shall be to undertake generally the task of economic welfare of the minorities through industrial, commercial and cultural activities.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this section, the functions of the Corporation shall be—
(i) to plan and promote training programmes for increasing the skill and efficiency in different minority occupations and to establish vocational institutes for the purpose;
(ii) to promote employment opportunities in various trades, crafts and intellectual pursuits, and to sanction stipends for training in different training institutes;
(iii) to provide necessary infrastructure in connection with all minority occupations;
276 The West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation Act, 1995.
XVIII of 1995.]
(Section 12.)
(iv) to encourage and undertake setting up of manufacturing and processing units on commercial basis;
(v) to promote entrepreneurship by sponsoring self-employment programmes in different trades, carfts, and business with the assistance of various financial institutions;
(vi) to arrange the supply of necessary inputs at reasonable prices for different trades and crafts and to acquire and install suitable machinery and equipments for the purpose of hiring out;
(vii) to plan, promote and undertake, on its own or in collaboration with such agencies or Governments as may be approved by the Corporation, programmes of minority welfare and development schemes approved by the Department of Minority Welfare, Government of West Bengal, or the minority commission, if any;
(viii) to arrange for in-service training; apprenticeship and dealership in different factories, commercial organisations and industrial complexes;
(ix) to provide financial assistance by way of grants, subsidies and loans, in cash or in kind, for such purposes as may be approved by the Corporation and also by providing cash credit accommodation against hypothecation of products;
(x) to find out resources• for financing all programmes to be undertaken by the Corporation and, to that end, to receive grants and gifts, raise loans, issue bonds and debentures, and draw, make, accept, discount, execute and issue promissory notes, bills of exchange, hundies, bills, warrants, and other negotiable instruments;
(xi) to invest, or to deposit, surplus funds in Government securities or in such other means to be approved by the Corporation;
(xii) to continue and to run the works and programmes transferred to the Corporation by the State Government for operation and to adopt suitable changes for their better execution;
(xiii) to orient the economic schemes towards the objective of empowering the minorities to make use of the constitutional safeguards fully;
(xiv) to function as a machinery for implementation of safeguards for the minorities of the State;
277 The West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation Act, 1995.
[West Ben. Act (Sections 13-16.)
(xv) to monitor its own sponsored schemes as well as the economic schemes being implemented under the minorities welfare programmes in consultation with the State level or the district level bankers' fora;
(xvi) to discharge such other functions as may be prescribed or as are supplemental, incidental or consequential to any of the functions conferred on it under this Act.
Powers of the Corporation.
Acquisition of land.
The Corporation to act on business principles.
Capital of the Corporation.
13. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Corporation shall have power—
(a) to acquire or hold such property, both movable and immovable, as the Corporation may deem necessary for the purpose of any of its functions and to lease, sell or otherwise transfer any property held by it;
(b) to purchase by agreement or to take on lease or under any form of tenancy any land and to erect thereon such buildings as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying on its undertakings;
(c) to enter into, or to perform, such contracts as may be necessary for the discharge of its functions and the exercise of its powers under this Act;
(d) to provide facilities for the consignment, storage and delivery of goods;
(e) to do, with the prior approval of the State Government, all other things to facilitate the proper carrying on of the business and the functions of the Corporation.
14. The Corporation may take steps for acquisition of any land for discharging any of its functions under this Act in accordance with the provisions of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.
15. It shall be the general principle of the Corporation that in carrying on its undertakings it shall act on business principles.