Rajasthan: Data exposes tall claims by BJP, Congress on dalit welfare

With an eye on the crucial Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP and the Congress have been trying every trick to capture dalit votes. Both the parties have been claiming to be champions of the dalit cause and the rightful claimants of Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s legacy.

But figures tell a different story. Just a cursory look at socio economic census data for Rajasthan would reveal the hollowness of the tall claims by both the BJP, which celebrated Dr Ambedkar’s birth anniversary as Samrasta Diwas on Thursday where chief minister Vasundhara Raje announced a slew of measures to woo dalits, as well as the Congress, whose vice-president Rahul Gandhi specially visited Barmer to meet the parents of a minor dalit girl who had allegedly been raped and murdered by her school teacher.

A large section of dalits in the state has not received the benefit of reservation or welfare schemes. Despite umpteen numbers of welfare schemes official figures show a grim picture of dalits in Rajasthan, raising a question as to where the money spent on these schemes have gone.

The data from socio-economic census 2011 shows that 83 per cent dalit families in the state survive on a meagre income of Rs 5,000 per month.

If one assumes four people in a family, that means Rs 1,250 per person per month or Rs 40 per day. The state has 18.91 lakh dalit families in rural areas out of which 15.66 lakh have an income less than Rs 5,000 per month while only 41,189 families — that is 2.18 per cent of the total population — fall in the income-tax net. The figures show the real picture of the tall claims by successive governments.

According to socio-economic census, less than 4 per cent dalit families in rural areas have a person in government job while in the private sector it is not even one per cent. Only 74,000 dalit families have been able to get a government job after six decades of the reservation policy.