Budget Day 2008-09 - Black Day for the Dalits Again!
Tanveer Kazi
Dalit Arthik Adhikar Andolan
(DA3)
Budget Day - A Black Day for Dalits Again
Chidambaram Denies 71% of the amount meant for SCs in the 2008-09 Budget.
Deprives Dalits by Rs. 29,801 Crores!
Growth with Exclusion of Dalits is the policy of UPA
With false promises Indian state has again betrayed Dalits this year. The towering claims of achieving growth with inclusion have faltered again. The total budget allocation under Plan Outlay for the year 2008-2009 is Rs. 2,43,385.5 crore and under the SC Sub Plan[i] (SCSP) the Government of India is liable to allocate Rs. 40090.90 crore exclusively for Dalits (16.7% of the total plan budget) but it has allocated just Rs. 11715.07 crore (29% of the total due under the SCSP) for the welfare of SCs, which means again SCs have been deprived by Rs 29801.89 crores. This year again it has diverted 71% of the amount SCs are due to receive under the SCSP! This exposes the stark 'untouchability' that is being practiced by the finance ministry and in the whole union budget.
|
Amount Denied to SCs in the 'Inclusive Budget' - 2008-09 | |||||
|
Total Budget |
Total Plan Outlay |
Amount Due to SCs |
Amount Allocated in 2008-09 |
Amounts denied |
% of Amount Denied |
|
750883.53 |
243385.5 |
40090.90 |
11715.07 |
29801.89 |
71 |
With this denied money of Rs. 29,801 Crores, one Crore SC children would have had access to education + 1 lakh health centres could have been set up in rural areas + 2 lakh small scale industries could have been set up + 5 lakh SC families could have been provided with 5 acres of land each – in one year alone! Had this Special Component Plan been implemented in the last 27 years, India would have been totally free of poverty!
History of Exclusion of SCs in the Budgets
|
Year |
Total Plan Outlay |
Amount Due |
Amount Allocated |
Amounts denied |
% of Amount Denied |
|
2005-06 (RE) |
143791.31 |
24013.15 |
6650.89 |
17362.26 |
72.30 |
|
2006-07 (RE) |
172730 |
28845.91 |
8344.27 |
20501.64 |
71.07 |
|
2007-08 (RE) |
207524 |
35274.89 |
11688.11 |
23586.78 |
66.87 |
The figures of allocation are a mute witness to the history of denial of exclusion. It is not only for the last three years, this trend is observed for the last 27 years since the inception of Scheduled Caste Sub Plan, (earlier Special Component Plan) in 1979-80, the Union as well as State governments are making a mockery of the guidelines and have blatantly violated the directions. This amounts to 'willful negligence' and those responsible are liable to be punished for this crime.
The government own reports tells the wide disparity and uneven growth among Dalits with comparison to general population this budget has not cater to take initiatives to bring Dalits into the manifold of development. Census Report 2001, NFHS Survey and other surveys shows the denial of access to material and other resources of Dalits resulting in the Infant Mortality rate in Dalit is 83% and Child Mortality rate is 39% which is higher than non Dalits who has IMR and CMR 61% and 22% respectively. 56% of Dalit women suffer from anemia. Literacy rate at all India level is 65% whereas for the Dalit it is 55% compared to non Dalit which is 69%.
The average expenditure all over India for Dalits was Rs. 285 much lower than the non-SCs which were Rs.393 annually. In the rural areas about 45% of Dalits were poor compared to 21% among the non Dalits. Compared with the non Dalits, the incidence of aggregate poverty was 70% higher among Dalits. In spite of all these, government has not been allocating the required amounts for the development of Dalits.
|
Extent of Exclusion and Denial to SCs by varios Ministries | ||||||
|
No. |
Ministries/Departments |
Total plan Budget |
Due as per scsp 16.7% |
Due Under SCSP |
Amount Denied/ Excess |
% Denied/ Excess |
|
2008-09 BE |
2008-09 BE |
2008-09 BE |
2008-09 BE |
2008-09 BE | ||
|
1 |
Ministry of Civil Aviation |
190 |
31.7 |
0 |
31.73 |
100 |
|
2 |
Ministry of Labour and Employment |
771.5 |
128.8 |
0.60 |
128.24 |
99.53 |
|
3 |
Department of Science & Technology |
1530 |
255.5 |
3.00 |
252.51 |
98.83 |
|
4 |
Department of Biotechnology |
900 |
150.3 |
2.01 |
148.29 |
98.66 |
|
5 |
Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment |
2400 |
400.8 |
1863.08 |
-1462.28 |
-364.84 |
|
6 |
Agriculture & Cooperation |
10093.3 |
1685.6 |
250.45 |
1435.14 |
85.14 |
|
7 |
Department of Telecomunications |
375 |
62.6 |
0.03 |
62.60 |
99.95 |
|
8 |
Department of Information Technology |
1680 |
280.6 |
22.51 |
258.05 |
91.98 |
|
9 |
Ministry of Culture |
600 |
100.2 |
3.62 |
96.58 |
96.39 |
|
10 |
Department of Health and Family Welfare |
15580 |
2601.9 |
1880.72 |
721.14 |
27.72 |
|
11 |
Department of School Education & Literacy |
26800 |
4475.6 |
4246.77 |
228.83 |
5.11 |
|
12 |
Department of Higher Education |
7593.5 |
1268.1 |
1048.77 |
219.34 |
17.30 |
|
13 |
Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises |
1794 |
299.60 |
408.11 |
-108.51 |
-36.22 |
|
14 |
Ministry of Panchayati Raj |
4780 |
798.26 |
20.10 |
778.16 |
97.48 |
|
15 |
Department of Rural Development |
31500 |
5260.50 |
720.25 |
4540.25 |
86.31 |
|
16 |
Ministry of Textiles |
2500 |
417.50 |
89.61 |
327.89 |
78.54 |
|
17 |
Ministry of Women and Child Development |
7200 |
1202.40 |
1139.67 |
62.73 |
5.22 |
|
18 |
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports |
890 |
148.63 |
3.90 |
144.73 |
97.38 |
|
19 |
Chandigarh |
309.46 |
52.61 |
11.28 |
41.33 |
78.56 |
|
20 |
Dadra and Nagar Haveli |
88.97 |
1.78 |
0.23 |
1.55 |
87.24 |
|
21 |
Daman & Diu |
84.79 |
23.12 |
0.36 |
22.76 |
98.45 |
|
22 |
Agriculture Research and Education |
1760 |
293.92 |
0 |
293.92 |
100 |
|
23 |
Animal Husbandry and Dairying |
1000 |
167 |
0 |
167.00 |
100 |
|
24 |
| |||||
[Message clipped]