Union budget: Dalits, tribals "denied" 57% per cent of their share

By A Representative
In one the sharpest critiques of the new Union budget, a top apex body of India’s Dalit organizations, National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), has accused the Government of India of denying Dalits 61 percent of the share they should have been allocated under the scheduled caste sub-plan (SCSP), 53 per cent of the share tribals should have been allocated under the scheduled tribe sub-plan (TSP).
Pointing out that the total denial to both SCs and STs is a “shocking” 57 per cent, Paul Divakar, who is NCDHR’s general secretary, has said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to whip the budget into shape and make the economy fairer for Dalits, tribals and other marginalized sections, but unfortunately his words have not translated into action.”
Giving details, the NCDHR has said, in the budget for 2015-16, the Dalits have been allocated Rs 30,850 crore, while the allocation is Rs 19,980 crore for Adivasis. “As per the SCSP/TSP Guidelines, the SCs should be allocated 16.6 per cent of the outlay, which amounts to Rs 77,236 crore towards SCSP, and the STs should be allocated 8.6 per cent of the outlay, which amounts to Rs 40,014 crore towards TSP”, it added.
“Dalits, therefore, have been denied a total of 61 per cent of the due amount under the SCSP, and 53 per cent has been denied to tribals under TSP”, it said, adding, “When compared to 2014-15 allocations , SCSP allocation was Rs 43,208 crore and TSP allocation was Rs 26,714 crore.” It terms this year’s allocation as “anti-SC and anti-ST.”

The NCDHR further says, “From the gender perspective, the Budget spells doom for SC/ST women”, as it earmarks practically “nothing” for them. “Out of the total allocation of Rs 30,850 crore under the SCSP, the allocation for women specific schemes is a meager sum of Rs 73.70 crore – which amounts to 0.23 per cent only!” it adds, “The scenario is much the same when one looks at the Budget allocation under TSP -- a paltry sum of Rs 40 crore ie 0.20 per cent.”
According to NCDHR , the allocations have “also declined in the education sector” to Rs 10,194.7 crore under the SCSP and Rs 5486.44 crore under TSP. Further, “allocation in the critical post-matric scholarship scheme for SC/STs has been reduced from Rs 1,904.78 crore to Rs 1,599 crore.”
Saying that the Modi government has actually “missed the boat to reach out to the Dalits and Adivasis”, the NCDHR concludes, “hough this Budget could have been used to give real relief to struggling families facing assaults, atrocities, discrimination, poor health, lack of education and unemployment, no concrete measure has been taken to improve their condition.”
“It is not only ironic but a cruel stroke that the government, instead of protecting SCs and STs and promoting their development has grossly reduced spending on their welfare”, the NCDHR statement said, wondering, “Where is the money going? The answer is not far to seek – it is going to the corporates with a reduction in corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent.”

Comments

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

Dalit woman student’s death sparks allegations of institutional neglect in Himachal college

By A Representative A Dalit rights organisation has alleged severe caste- and gender-based institutional violence leading to the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman student at Government Degree College, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and has demanded arrests, resignations, and an independent inquiry into the case.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

The architect of Congolese liberation: The life and legacy of Patrice Lumumba

By Harsh Thakor* Patrice Émery Lumumba remains a central figure in the history of African decolonization, serving as the first Prime Minister of the independent Republic of the Congo. Born on July 2, 1925, Lumumba emerged as a radical anti-colonial leader who sought to unify a nation fractured by decades of Belgian rule. His tenure, however, lasted less than seven months before his dismissal and subsequent assassination on January 17, 1961.

Venezuela and the crisis of global order: Erosion of rules-based international order

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The American attack on Venezuela violates every principle of international law that the collective West claims to uphold. The response from the European Union—“we are monitoring the situation”—exposes the hollowness of these claims. WhatsApp gossipers may celebrate this as an act of “bravery,” but what kind of bravery is it to intimidate a neighbour that is neither large in size nor strong in military power?

Search This Blog