Dalit group says Scheduled Castes should have got 16.8 per cent in budget

The Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DICCI) may be pleased with the Union Budget for its proposed allocation of Rs 500 crore under the Stand-Up India scheme however that does not seem to be the case with National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), which is an organisation of Dalit scholars. The NCDHR has claimed that allocation for Scheduled Castes (SCs) is only 7.6 per cent when it actually should be 16.8 per cent under the SCSP budget.

President of DICCI, Milind Kamble, reacted to the Union Budget saying that the National Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Hub announced in it completes the backward class entrepreneurs’ ecosystem and will play the role of “matchmaker” between government and businessmen. However, the NCDHR reaction is completely different.

General Secretary of NCDHR, Paul Divakar, said that the due amount under SCSP budget should be 16.8 per cent which means Rs 91,301 crore and 8.6 per cent under TSP which is Rs 47,300 crore. But the Union Budget has denied a total of Rs 75,764 crore and hence, NCDHR condemns this denial in allocation,” he said.

Mr Divakar added that of the total Rs 897 crore allocated under the University Grants Commission (UGC), 60 per cent goes towards capital assets and another 30 per cent towards grants-in-aid and only 8 per cent directly benefits SC and ST students.

He further said that the budget continues to marginalise Dalit-Adivasi women by allocating a mere 1 per cent to Dalit women and 2 per cent to Adivasi (ST) women without taking into account the needs and voices of these women. He said that the schemes lack understanding of the living reality of these women and are blind to their concerns.

Secretary of Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh and former Dalit Panther, J.V. Pawar, too, was disappointed with the allocation for SCs and STs.