Interim Union Budget denies SCs and STs proportionate allocation

The National Confederation of Dalit Organization (NACDOR), New Delhi, says in a statement:

The National Confederation of Dalit Organization (NACDOR) is grieved to learn that Union Government failed to population proportionate allocation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the interim budget.

The political parties are preparing for the General Election 2014 and the UPA lead government has presented the interim budget and there are different perspectives of it. Criticism on the budget of the beneficiaries from different social and political groups are obvious. These budgets requires to be also seen from the perspective of the schedules "Scheduled Castes (SC)" and "Scheduled Tribes (ST)".  The following table gives the figures at a glance.
SC Population – 16.6\%    ST Population - 8.6\%       (Census 2011)
                                                      Rs in Cr

Particulars of Total Plan and Non-Plan budget
Particular	2012-13 (AE)	2013-14 (BE)	2013-14 (RE)	2014-15 (BE)
Total Budget	1410367	1665297	1590434	1763214
Plan Budget	413625	555322	475532	555322
Non Plan Budget	996742	1109975	1114902	1207892
Particulars of allocation made under SCSP for Scheduled Castes
Allocation under SCP	28218.81	41561.13	35800.6	48638.31
SCP in Percentage	6.82	7.48	7.53	8.76
Due SCP in percentage	16.60	16.60	16.60	16.60
Due SCP	68661.75	92183.45	78938.31	92183.45
Denial under SCP	40442.94	50622.32	43137.71	43545.14
Particulars of allocation made under TSP for Scheduled Tribes
Allocation under TSP	16723.73	24598.39	22030.47	30726.07
TSP in Percentage	4.04	4.43	4.63	5.53
Dues TSP in Percentage	8.6	8.6	8.6	8.6
Due TSP	35571.75	47757.69	40895.75	47757.69
Denial under TSP	18848.02	23159.30	18865.28	17031.62
Particulars of allocation made under SCSP and TSP together
Allocation under SCSP and TSP	44942.54	66159.52	57831.07	79364.38
Due under SCSP and TSP	104233.50	139941.14	119834.06	139941.14
Denied under SCP and TSP	59290.96	73781.62	62002.99	60576.76

Once again the UPA led by Congress has disappointed the Dalits and Adivasis in the budgetary allocations and expenditures; as follows:

1. Rs. 60,576 Cr has been denied to SC/ST in the current budget. It is the normal trend of Union Government as seen in the table.
2. It has tried to satisfy the SC/ST only by a partial allocation i.e. 8.76\% (Rs. 48638 Cr) for SC and 5.53\% (Rs. 30726 Cr) for ST. Whereas decision of National Development Council (NDC) mandates population proportionate allocation for SC/ST
3. Government has changed the nomenclature of "Special Component Plan (SCP)" to "Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP)" in the budget document. It seems that the Union Government intends to confuse targeted population in different nomenclatures.
4. Union Government is alluring SC/ST with proposed bill on SCSP/TSP – to legitimize the present way of allocations and expenditure

Fiscal Deficit and Subsidy Provisions for Corporate Sectors

On the other hand the UPA led by the Congress has shown its commitment to the corporate sectors by giving more without any hesitation. Following table gives an idea about it.

Particular	2011-12	2012-13
Borrowings and Liabilities (=Fiscal Deficit)	515990	513590
Interest Payment	273150	319759
Revenue Foregone	533582	573626
Revenue foregone to number of companies	459270	494545

The figures shown in the table are taken from the budget documents. These are the estimated figures but give clear picture how much the UPA government is paying to corporate sector. The Fiscal deficit is basically due to the revenue foregone i.e. subsidies to the profit making corporate sectors. Due to fiscal deficit the government has to borrow the money and pay the interest thereon. The annual interest payment is more than half of the annual plan budget. The entire country is paying interest because the government want to benefit corporates doing the business of Gold, Jewellery, Real Estate, Oil, Gas, etc.  We can see that the government has annual Plan Size of Rs. 555322 Cr for the Year 2014-15. On the other hand in the year 2012-13 the Revenue Forgone to 494545 companies is Rs. 573626 Cr; which is higher than the budgeted plan size. The figures of Revenue forgone for rest of the years are not available but they are estimated be higher. It clearly means that for the Government, people are of least importance and the government is committed for the corporate Sectors only.

Scheme wise Denial for SC/ST

Deepening further into the kind of allocations made for the SC/ST, we see many glaring examples. Few examples are taken from the SCSP

1. Prevention of Atrocities Act – Budget has been reduced from Rs. 130 Cr (2013-14 – Revised Estimate) to Rs. 90 Cr in 2014-15 (Budget Estimate)
2. Post Metric Scholarship - Budget has been reduced from Rs. 1908 Cr (2013-14 – Revised Estimate) to Rs. 1500 Cr in 2014-15 (Budget Estimate)
3. Department of Agriculture and Cooperation has closed 22 schemes and added 9 new schemes reduced the budget from Rs. 1929 Cr (2013-14 – Revised Estimate) to Rs. 1888 Cr in 2014-15 (Budget Estimate)
4. Department of Commerce has allocated Rs. 100 Cr for the Tea Board, Coffee Board, rubber board and Spices without making any provision for reservation in these boards.
5. Department of Electronics and Information Technology has reduced the Budget from Rs. 21 Cr (2013-14 – Budget Estimate) to Rs. 10 Cr in 2014-15 (Budget Estimate) for e-governance.
6. University Grant Commission has reduced budget from Rs. 868 Cr (2013-14 – Budget Estimate) to Rs. 598 Cr in 2014-15 (Budget Estimate)

These are the few examples to show the kind of allocation made by the government lead by UPA. Atrocities are increasing day by day, numbers of students are also increasing but the government is committed to despise them by and by in slow degree. Same is the case for Scheduled Tribes.

Schemes violating the mandates of SCSP/TSP

There are certain area where the allocations for SC/ST are relatively better. But these schemes are popularly known for the larger chunk of corruption. For example

Scheme Name	2012-13 (AE)	2013-14 (BE)	2013-14 (RE)	2014-15 (BE)
Schemes Wise allocation /Expenditures under SCSP for SCs
Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS)	3469.87	3849	3849	4000
National Programme of Nutrition Support to Primary Education (Mid Day Meal Scheme)	2143.94	2643	2442.84	2651
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan	4776.78	5451.6	5408.66	5549.99
National Rural Drinking Water Programme	2310	2420	2134	2420
Central Rural Sanitation Programme	550	938	506	938
Schemes Wise allocation /Expenditures under TSP for STs
Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS)	1304.67	1668.7	1668.7	1722
National Programme of Nutrition Support to Primary Education (Mid Day Meal Scheme)	1170.13	1417.23	1332.78	1419
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan	2675.74	2916.61	2747.69	2972.15
National Rural Drinking Water Programme	1050	1100	970	1100
Central Rural Sanitation Programme	250	426	230	426
Total	19701.13	22830.14	21289.67	23198.14

As per the provision of the National Development council (dated 27^th June 2005) contained in the guideline dated 31^st Oct 2005, the allocations made under these programs required to be spent under the schemes that directly benefit the individuals, families and hamlets belonging to the SC/ST. But the government is spending the funds for the non-intended purposes covered under Standard Object Head 31 which meant for "Grant-in-Aids-General". From the Financial "Sanction 3/-8/2013/Desk MDM dated 15^th July 2013 of the Department of School Education and Literacy (MDM Division) it is clearly evident that the funds are spent for the general purpose and not for the specific purpose of benefiting the SC/ST students. Such trends are normal in the financial sanctions and expenditures.

Conclusion: Concluding all together, it can be said that UPA lead government has finally not adhere to its own commitments made in the National Development Councils and has made several attempts knowingly to despise the SC/ST population. On the other hand it is promoting the institutions who are practicing discrimination with SC/ST – such institutions are corporate sectors who have not made any program for the inclusion of SC/ST in Corporate social Responsibility and Affirmative Actions.

For further details please contactNational Confederation of Dalit Organizations (NACDOR)
M-3/22, Model Town – III, Delhi – 110009
Mob: +91 9990 6837 69, Fax: +91 11 27419002
Contact Persons: Mr. Ashok Bharti (Chairman – NACDOR), Mr. Umesh Babu and Mr. Sukanta Behera
(Source: Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong)