An additional Rs 3,000- Rs 3,500 crore will be made available for the welfare of SCs and STs in the next budget, besides the benefits arising from better targeting and implementation.
The decision was taken at the maiden meeting of the State Council for Development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, held at chief minister’s camp office, here on Tuesday evening.
The meeting discussed social justice and poverty eradication and chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is the chairman of the council, directed officials to come up with ways to identify the poorest of the poor to provide benefits to them directly. The officials were also provide inputs on the structural changes needed in core departments at the district and grassroots level, monitoring mechanism, system of implementation and the timelines for implementation.
Deputy chief minister D Rajanarasimha, ministers J Geetha Reddy, K Jana Reddy, Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, Dharmana Prasada Rao, Pithani Satyannarayana, P Bala Raju, Kondru Murali Mohan, S Sailajanath, M Maheedhar Reddy and Uttam Kumar Reddy, chief secretary Minnie Mathew and other officials attended the meeting.