The Cabinet sub-committee on Scheduled Caste Sub-plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub-plan (TSP) submitted its report to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy here on Saturday.
Describing it as a new chapter in the state’s history, Kiran said the report will be discussed in the cabinet meeting and a special session of the state assembly will be convened on it within a month to bring out a legislation on the two sub-plans.
“This is not for gaining a votebank or political mileage. It is for the accelerated development and welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,” he said. He also said they wanted a meaningful implementation of the schemes meant for SC and ST. Funds meant for their development were not being fully utilised.
At the end of last fiscal, a total of Rs 2,000 crore was unspent in the SC/ ST component. Some funds meant for SC, ST development and welfare were being adjusted in accounts as notional expenditure.
“We announced a Special Component Plan for SC, STs in accordance with the spirit of letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by AICC president Sonia Gandhi.
A cabinet sub-committee under chairmanship of Damodara Rajanarsimha had gone into the issue,” he said.
Kiran said in the current budget, they had allocated Rs 8,657 crore for SC sub-plan and Rs 4060 crore under ST sub-plan in accordance with the proportion and plan size.
“Everything in theory seems good, but practical implementation is the area where we have deficiencies.
We will concentrate on practical aspect by continuous monitoring and finetuning of the schemes and making periodic changes,” he explained.
Kiran mentioned the Sunnamvariguden Declaration for tribal welfare as an example of government’s commitment.
The committee has taken into consideration the human development index in all districts and decided that the poorest of the poor need to be prioritised.
The funds meant for the SCs and STs are to be earmarked on the basis of proportion of their population i.e.16.2 per cent for SCs and 6.6 for STs.