Low allocations, high underspending: AARM flags tribal welfare gaps in Budget 2026-27

By A Representative 

The All India Adivasi Rights Movement (AARM) has sharply criticised the Union Budget 2026-27, describing it as a “betrayal of India’s working people” and particularly of Scheduled Tribes, while continuing tax concessions and policy support for corporates.

In a press release, AARM said the budget speech made virtually no reference to Scheduled Tribes, except for a single line in the introduction, a neglect that is reflected in allocations and expenditure patterns. The organisation alleged that the budget fails to address unemployment, low incomes and widening inequality, instead persisting with what it called a pro-corporate economic approach despite low demand in the economy.

According to AARM, the government has chosen to expand privatisation and disinvestment, setting a target of around ₹90,000 crore, while cutting public expenditure that could generate jobs and boost purchasing power. It said concessions to large mining companies have already affected land and forest rights of adivasis and warned that the new budget signals a continuation of this trend.

The organisation pointed out that overall expenditure on key social sectors such as health, education, agriculture, labour, and women and child welfare has been reduced by about ₹1.20 lakh crore in the 2026-27 budget. It cited sharp cuts in centrally sponsored schemes, including a reduction of ₹53,000 crore in allocations for rural development and significant underutilisation of funds under the Jal Jeevan Mission, where only ₹17,000 crore was spent against an allocation of ₹67,000 crore in the previous year. AARM said such cuts disproportionately harm adivasi communities, which already lag behind on most social indicators.

Referring to Statement 10B of the budget papers, titled “Allocation for the Welfare of Scheduled Tribes”, AARM said the government is expected, under earlier Planning Commission guidelines, to allocate 8.6 per cent of total expenditure for Scheduled Tribes, corresponding to their share in the population. However, it alleged that in 2025-26, only 2.58 per cent was allocated, amounting to about ₹1.3 lakh crore, and even this was not fully spent, with over ₹7,000 crore remaining unutilised.

AARM further alleged that the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, the nodal ministry for tribal welfare, recorded one of the worst records of under-spending. Of the ₹14,861.96 crore allocated to the ministry in 2025-26, only ₹10,745.16 crore was spent, leaving around 35 per cent of the funds unused. The organisation demanded accountability from the ministry, headed by Union Minister Jual Oram.

The press release also questioned the implementation of flagship schemes announced by the government. It cited the Jan Man (JANMAN) programme for Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), under which ₹6,351.99 crore was to be spent across ministries in 2025-26, but only ₹3,997 crore was actually utilised. The allocation for 2026-27, it said, is even lower. Similarly, under the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan, only ₹2,186 crore was spent out of ₹6,105 crore allocated in 2025-26. AARM said there is no clear audit of expenditure across ministries even as large numbers of adivasis are being displaced by mining, power and irrigation projects.

On education, the organisation highlighted what it described as the poor state of Eklavya Model Residential Schools. Although ₹7,088.60 crore was earmarked last year, budget figures show that only about ₹4,900 crore was spent. Out of a target of 728 schools, 245 are yet to be constructed, while many of those reported to be functional face shortages of teachers. It also alleged that a significant portion of funds for pre-matric scholarships for tribal students remains unspent.

AARM termed the replacement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with a new scheme, G-Ram-G, as the “biggest betrayal” of rural workers. It said MGNREGA had been a lifeline for adivasi households, particularly women, with adivasis constituting about 19 per cent of workers at worksites. While the budget provides ₹95,000 crore for the new scheme, AARM claimed this shifts a larger financial burden to states, which are required to contribute 40 per cent of costs, a requirement many states may be unable to meet due to reduced revenues.

The organisation also alleged that several expenditures shown under Statement 10B do not genuinely relate to tribal welfare. It cited allocations of over ₹700 crore for IITs and ₹561 crore for semiconductor units, arguing that these do not directly benefit Scheduled Tribes and are used to inflate welfare figures.

AARM concluded that the budget suffers from inadequate allocations for tribal welfare, large-scale under-spending of even those allocations, and the inclusion of unrelated expenditures to misrepresent actual spending. Calling the budget an “exercise in deception”, it announced that AARM units across the country would organise protests against what it described as an anti-adivasi and anti-people budget.