New Delhi: CPM on Saturday asked the Centre to allocate funds for Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) equivalent to the population proportion of the SCs in the country.
Stating that the Census 2011 had pegged the Scheduled Castes population at 16.6 per cent of the total population of the country, CPM Polit Bureau member K Varadharajan, in a letter to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, said 16.6 per cent of Plan outlay should be allocated for SCSP.
Varadharajan said the Sub Plan mandates the setting apart of a proportion of total Plan outlay of the Centre and state governments equivalent to the population proportion of SCs at the respective levels for their development.
"The actual allocation in this budget is Rs 50,548 crores and Rs 32,387 crores for SCs and STs respectively. The total plan allocation also declined in real terms roughly by 4 per cent," he added.
Alleging that there have been several cases of diversion of SCSP funds for purposes such as construction of flyovers, Commonwealth Games, Varadharajan stressed on the need for a legislation to provide statutory backing to the provisions of the SCSP.
He also asked the government to ensure that the allocated funds are spent for the development of Dalits and are not diverted for other purposes and also to "see that they do not lapse".
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