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 Our 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.”

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#MeToo moment in Hyderabad Urdu varsity? Two girl students seek action against authorities

Counterview Desk
Has the #MeToo movement reached Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MAANU)? It would seem so if a recent letter by newly-appointed chancellor Firoz Bakht Ahmed to MAANU vice-chancellor Dr Aslam Parvaiz is any indication. Seeking reinstatement of two girl victims of “sexual harassment and humiliation”, the letter specifically names head of the department of the Media Centre for Journalism, suspecting, the problem could be much deeper.
Text of the letter: It is a matter of utmost perturbation for me to receive the two representations from the girls studying in the MCJ (Media Center for Journalism) regarding their sexual and subsequently, mental and social harassment at the hands of Prof Ehtesham Ahmad Khan, the HOD, MCJ.
We do not know, how many girls have been exploited by him and preferred to be silent for saving their family’s honour; however, there are two brave girls who stood to the depraved advances and misuse by Prof Ehtesham and came up with written complai…

"Ineligible" funding of Sardar Statue in Gujarat: CAG tells Central PSUs, it's not a heritage CSR activity

By Our Representative
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in its recent report on Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE), has qualified public sector undertakings’ (PSUs') funding the 182-metre world’s highest Sardar Statue, currently being constructed in the Narmada river downstream of the Sardar Sarovar dam as an “ineligible” corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity.

Gujarat BJP MLAs, youth leader "incited" attack on North Indians: Cong releases video

Counterview Desk
Senior Gujarat Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil, currently in charge of Bihar and national spokesperson, All-India Congress Committee, has sent a legal notice to chief minister Vijay Rupani threatening criminal case and civil defamation suit for accusing him with "baseless statement" that he was responsible for attacks on north Indians in Gujarat.

29th "NRC-related" suicide in Assam, as Nirod Baran Das takes his life by hanging on a fan

By Our Representative
Reporting 29th case of National Register of Citizens (NRC)-driven suicide in Assam, one of India’s human rights campaign sites has said that, on October 20, tragedy struck Kharupetia town in Darrang district of Assam, when a retired school teacher and advocate Nirod Baran Das “took his life by hanging himself to a fan in his home.” The report adds, “The NRC process has so far claimed over two dozen such lives in the past four months alone.”

"Highly irregular" for PSUs to fund Sardar Statue under Corporate Social Responsibility

Counterview Desk
In a letter to I Srinivas, secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, former secretary (economic affairs), Ministry of Finance, EAS Sarma, has raised questions on the funding of the Sardar Patel statue in South Gujarat by Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSUs) relying on the Comptroller and Auditor General report (No 18/2018).

Murder of Tamil Nadu teenage Dalit girl: "Stoic silence" despite #MeToo movement

Counterview Desk
Brinelle D'souza, who is with the Centre for Health and Mental Health, School of Social Work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, has prepared a strong statement to protest the brutal murder of 13-year-old Rajalakshmi. "Other than a few media reports, this gruesome killing has not caught national attention despite a very vibrant #MeToo campaign currently underway", regrets D'souza.

Post-MJ Akbar resignation: #MeToo movement and fears of backlash

By Sheshu Babu*
For the last few days, #MeToo movement has picked up momentum and many women are coming out with horrific tales of severe harassment in their past lives. They are not afraid anymore to expose famous persons including those at ministerial levels. As a senior journalist Neeraja Chowdhury opined (“An exit, a beginning”, October 18, 2018, indianexpress.com), "The #MeToo revelations are like the eruption of a volcano which was imminent, given the journey working women have covered. It was not easy to make public what they had gone through,and take on powerful men.”

World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

Bank account frozen, raid on Amnesty office: Govt of India "treating" human rights NGOs like criminal enterprises

By Abhirr VP*
Amnesty India’s bank accounts have been frozen by the Enforcement Directorate, effectively stopping its work. Amnesty India is thus the latest target of the government’s assault on civil society in the country. The accounts of Greenpeace India were frozen earlier this month.

60 ex-civil servants seek release of CAG reports on Rafale, demonetisation before 2019 polls

Counterview Desk
As many as 60 retired civil servants have asked President Ram Nath Kovind to expedite the release of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on demonetisation and the Rafale deal. The letter, signed mainly by former Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service and Indian Police Service officers, regrets that the status of the audit is "unclear”. According to them, “An impression is gaining ground that CAG is deliberately delaying its audit reports on demonetisation and Rafale deal till after the May 2019 elections so as not to embarrass the present government”.

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