Budget 2017-18 SC-ST "allocation" 3.93%, against 25.5% population; Economic Survey "ignores" SCs, STs

Allocation to SC-ST, as seen by Delhi Solidarity Group

By A Representative
In a major exposure of the Government of India’s latest budgetary exercise, a top Delhi-based civil rights group has revealed that the “Economic Survey 2016-17”, presented in Parliament on January 31, the terms Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) have been removed.
Pointing out that it this “clearly points to the priorities of the present ruling dispensation which perhaps wants to convey that indicators of development of SC and ST communities are no more the indicators for national development”, the Delhi Solidarity Group (SDG) in its in-depth analysis has said that the budget has deviated from the “established norm of presenting plan and non-plan components separately,” which will “affect allocation for SC/ST.”
DSG says, “In previous budgets, allocations for SC/ST was mandated for programmes covered for plan period only. and expenditure of establishments after the expiry of plan period were booked under non-plan heads.”
“Thereby”, it adds, “In the figures given in the budget 2016-17, population proportionate allocation for SC/ST was applicable in total budget of Union of India.”
However, this has been abandoned now. The result, says the analysis, is that as against the total budget size of Rs 21,47,000 crore, the allocation to the SCs is Rs 52,393 crore under what is called the special component plan. This comes to 2.44% of the total total budget size, as against the SC population of SC 16.6% in the country (Census 2011).
Significantly, in the previous budget, the allocation was Rs 38,338 crore in the plan budget alone, the analysis claims, adding, if one takes into account 16.6% of SC population, its “due share” in the total budget, including all sorts of expenditure, should have been Rs 3, 56,402 crore.
This, says DSG, suggests that there is a “shortage of allocation” for SC in the budgetary allocation to the tune of Rs. 3, 04,009 crore in 2017-18.
Things are not very different for ST, says the analysis, pointing out that the “allocation made under the ST sub-plan is Rs. 31,920 crore”, as against the the previous year’s of Rs 24,000 crore in the plan budget alone.
Considering that the ST population of India is 8.6% (2011 Census), the analysis says, “The due share of ST in total budget, including all sorts of expenditure should have been Rs 1, 84,642 crore.” This, it adds, suggests that there is a “shortfall” of Rs 1,52,722 crore in 2017-18.
“So”, concludes DSG, “The total amount denied to SC and ST communities is Rs 4, 56,731crore.”

Comments

Whither space for the marginalised in Kerala's privately-driven townships after landslides?

By Ipshita Basu, Sudheesh R.C. In the early hours of July 30 2024, a landslide in the Wayanad district of Kerala state, India, killed 400 people. The Punjirimattom, Mundakkai, Vellarimala and Chooralmala villages in the Western Ghats mountain range turned into a dystopian rubble of uprooted trees and debris.

Election bells ringing in Nepal: Can ousted premier Oli return to power?

By Nava Thakuria* Nepal is preparing for a national election necessitated by the collapse of KP Sharma Oli’s government at the height of a Gen Z rebellion (youth uprising) in September 2025. The polls are scheduled for 5 March. The Himalayan nation last conducted a general election in 2022, with the next polls originally due in 2027. However, following the dissolution of Nepal’s lower house of Parliament last year by President Ram Chandra Poudel, the electoral process began under the patronage of an interim government installed on 12 September under the leadership of retired Supreme Court judge Sushila Karki. The Hindu-majority nation of over 29 million people will witness more than 3,400 electoral candidates, including 390 women, representing 68 political parties as well as independents, vying for 165 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives.

Gig workers hold online strike on republic day; nationwide protests planned on February 3

By A Representative Gig and platform service workers across the country observed a nationwide online strike on Republic Day, responding to a call given by the Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU) to protest what it described as exploitation, insecurity and denial of basic worker rights in the platform economy. The union said women gig workers led the January 26 action by switching off their work apps as a mark of protest.

'Condonation of war crimes against women and children’: IPSN on Trump’s Gaza Board

By A Representative The India-Palestine Solidarity Network (IPSN) has strongly condemned the announcement of a proposed “Board of Peace” for Gaza and Palestine by former US President Donald J. Trump, calling it an initiative that “condones war crimes against children and women” and “rubs salt in Palestinian wounds.”

India’s road to sustainability: Why alternative fuels matter beyond electric vehicles

By Suyash Gupta* India’s worsening air quality makes the shift towards clean mobility urgent. However, while electric vehicles (EVs) are central to India’s strategy, they alone cannot address the country’s diverse pollution and energy challenges.

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

With infant mortality rate of 5, better than US, guarantee to live is 'alive' in Kerala

By Nabil Abdul Majeed, Nitheesh Narayanan In 1945, two years prior to India's independence, the current Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, was born into a working-class family in northern Kerala. He was his mother’s fourteenth child; of the thirteen siblings born before him, only two survived. His mother was an agricultural labourer and his father a toddy tapper. They belonged to a downtrodden caste, deemed untouchable under the Indian caste system.

From algorithms to exploitation: New report exposes plight of India's gig workers

By Jag Jivan The recent report, "State of Finance in India Report 2024-25," released by a coalition including the Centre for Financial Accountability, Focus on the Global South, and other organizations, paints a stark picture of India's burgeoning digital economy, particularly highlighting the exploitation faced by gig workers on platform-based services.

MGNREGA: How caste and power hollowed out India’s largest welfare law

By Sudhir Katiyar, Mallica Patel* The sudden dismantling of MGNREGA once again exposes the limits of progressive legislation in the absence of transformation of a casteist, semi-feudal rural society. Over two days in the winter session, the Modi government dismantled one of the most progressive legislations of the UPA regime—the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Search This Blog