CP Balasubramanyam takes us through the 180 welfare schemes that have been sponsored by the Union and the State governments, individually and jointly, for people belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in Tamil Nadu. With the State budget around the corner, stakeholders and community members have put forth various demands, some old and some new
Education
Hold recruitment for SC/ST backlog vacancies and fill overall vacancies to ensure teacher-student ratio is maintained in government schools, colleges and universities
Provide funds for building basic infrastructure (restrooms, water facility, library, labs, etc) at Adi Dravidar welfare schools. Conduct a detailed study for revamping infrastructure
Provide funds for maintaining Adi Dravidar hostels and appointing sanitary workers
Establish Pandit Iyothee Thaasar/Periyar Centres or Chairs for interdisciplinary studies on social transformation. This will ensure clear understanding of social justice and other government welfare schemes
Provide post-matric scholarships to improve Gross Enrolment Ratio. Scholarships should be allocated to match the price index
Release PMS for 2020-21 and arrears for the last three years
Allocate funds to extend mid-day meal plan to poor government college students
Renew doctoral fellowship programme for SC/ST students getting admission in foreign universities
Constitute Centre for Excellence in Social Sciences to encourage academic research and teaching in social sciences
Rejuvenating Adi Dravidar Welfare Dept
State should enact separate legislation for financial allocation for SC/ST development proportionate to the population
Ensure the department designs SC and ST sub plans independently. At present, the department is under the hold of finance department
20 per cent of total allocation must be used to launch new schemes. Every department should ensure that 20 per cent of funds is diverted to new schemes
Spend 2 per cent of GSDP on SC sub-plan and 0.1 per cent on ST sub-plan
Reinstate special component plan, which ensures allocation of budget proportional to the population size and evolve concrete steps for specific programmes
Economic development
Revamp Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Housing & Development Corporation according to the changing times. Make it self-supporting by taking up housing and housing-plot development schemes by itself. Increase amount of allocation
Provide funds for conducting recruitment for filling backlog SC/ST vacancies in all departments
Implement 4 per cent procurement policy for MSMEs owned by SC/ST people. Formulate a clear plan to encourage entrepreneurship. Legal protection must be available
Panchayats
Reserved seats in panchayats should be allocated Rs 10 lakh every year for carrying out road works. A total of Rs 300 crore is required for the purpose
Tribes
Assistance for tribal people to collect and market minor forest produces
Offer cooperative loans
Devise mechanism for civil society consultations
Revised list of SCs
Chennai: The State government in June this year had released a revised list of Schedule Castes in the light of the Central law on Devendrakula Velalar coming into force on May 15