BENGALURU: Successive governments have pumped in hundreds and thousands of crores into SCP-TSP schemes for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, yet the harsh reality remains: These communities continue to languish in poverty. The glaring question remains unanswered — why have these massive funds failed to uplift the intended beneficiaries? Is there a sinister force siphoning off these funds before they reach the needy? The New Indian Express investigates.
Former IRS officer and Directorate of Enforcement official turned Congress MLC Sudham Das minced no words when he told TNIE, “The intent is good, but there appears to be a failure in the system regardless of which government is in power, when it comes to execution. Officers are taking undue advantage of the government’s lenience.” His statement echoes the unspoken truth — massive financial mismanagement and fraud are hollowing out these schemes.
He said, “Financial records suggest that if the allocated funds over the past 11 years had been directly transferred to beneficiaries, each family would have been richer by at least Rs 17 lakh. Yet, these communities remain trapped in deprivation. The obvious question is where has all the money gone?’’
Take the case of a hostel in Mandya taluk, where blatant financial irregularities occurred between 2020 and 2024 under two different governments -- BJP between 2020 to 2023 and Congress between 2023 to 2024. An anonymous whistleblower revealed that Rs 2 crore was misappropriated through over-invoicing and unnecessary purchases. The hostel authorities bought eight television sets at Rs 93,000 each, despite the same models being available online for Rs 47,990. This single transaction alone led to a misappropriation of Rs 3.63 lakh.
The hostel purchased three water purifiers for Rs 4.43 lakh, though existing purifiers were in perfect working condition. Government officers who preferred to remain anonymous admitted that financial prudence was blatantly ignored. “Items are procured unnecessarily, market rates are disregarded, and funds are withdrawn through DC bills without proper audit trails,” they revealed.
TNIE accessed the details of misused funds in 2020-21: Rs 4.89 lakh by the Government Post Matric Hostel, Mandya and Rs 13.14 lakh by the Government Pre-Matric Hostel, Mangala, Mandya. In 2021-22, eight government hostels in Mandya misused Rs 67 lakh, in 2022-23 seven hostels misused about Rs 63 lakh and after the change of government in 2023 eight government hostels misused Rs 70 lakh in Mandya taluk.
Social Welfare minister Dr H C Mahadevappa refused to answer calls or respond to messages sent by this newspaper.
The scandal runs deeper. Another source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that a staggering Rs 16,000 crore from the Special Component Plan -- SCP and Tribal Sub-Plan -- TSP funds, meant for the energy, women and child development, food and civil supplies, and transport departments have been diverted to fulfill the five guarantees by the Congress government.
Despite shocking misappropriation, no stringent action has been taken against the perpetrators. With government departments working in silos, audit trails missing, and a lack of transparency in fund utilisation, corruption continues to thrive unchecked.
Former chairman of the second National Scheduled Caste Commission and former Congress MP H Hanumanthappa said, “There are complaints that the SC-ST funds are not reaching the targeted audience. The government should exercise greater care to ensure that it is done.’’