BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday regretted that the lives of SC/STs have not seen any major changes, though the Scheduled Castes Sub-Allocation & Tribal Sub-Allocation (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act was implemented 10 years ago. He blamed the apathy of officials and noncooperation of banks in disbursing loans against government schemes for the delayed progress.
“Banks should provide timely financial assistance for various welfare schemes and if they delay it, action should be taken. In all, Karnataka has spent Rs 2.97 lakh crore for the welfare of SC/STs. It would be a shame if social, economic and educational standards of these communities have not improved despite all this expenditure,” he said at the SC/ST Development Council meeting at Vidhana Soudha.
The state has, however, increased the grants for SC/STs every year by 9.6% over the last 10 years as per the SCSP/TSP Act, he added.
Citing an evaluation done by the Institute for Social and Economic Change on the implementation of SCSP/TSP Act, he said Karnataka is ahead of other states in various criteria. In all, 39 taluks with a high population of SC/STs have been identified and a survey conducted to identify education, health, living standards and poverty eradication in these areas, he informed.
“As per the Act, a minimum of 24.1% of the grant has to be allocated every year, but during 2019-20, lesser amount was released (during the BJP rule),” he said.
He said the Act’s implementation should be reviewed as its purpose is to allocate a budget proportionate to SC/ST population, improve their social and economic conditions, standard of living and develop housing.
Last year, Rs 38,793 crore was released for SCSP/TSP welfare programmes, of which Rs 38,717 crore was spent, achieving 97% success. The Centre was expected to release Rs 880 crore, but did not, he said. He instructed officials to get the fund released.
“This year, Rs 42,017.51 crore has been allocated. An action plan should be formulated to spend this grant effectively. Negligent officers should be punished,” he added.