A political slugfest has broken out in Andhra Pradesh over the money that is supposed to be spent as per law by the state government for the development of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) under the special component plans. Opposition parties have accused the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) government of diverting and misappropriating the funds from the state budget which are supposed to be reserved exclusively for SC/STs in proportion to their population. The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government has hit back by pointing to the record of the previous Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government led by N Chandrababu Naidu and said that his party has progressively increased the year-on-year allocation.
The controversy was triggered by an ordinance issued by the YSRCP government on January 22 to extend the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes Sub-Plan for another 10 years just days before it expired. While the AP government issued an ordinance to extend the sub-plan for another 10 years, the ineffective implementation and opaqueness of the schemes have led people to question the true intent of the extension.
Activists from the Dalit and Adivasi communities questioned why the government had held off on extending the sub-plan until the very last minute. Speaking to TNM, Nelapudi Stalin Babu, a former member of the SC/ST Plan committee asks, “Why did the government choose to bring out an ordinance and not present a Bill in the last Assembly session during September 2022? This demonstrates that the government is not serious about implementing the plan.”
TDP claimed that the YSRCP government abandoned several programmes under the sub-plans that were in place during its rule. TDP also alleged that the government was misusing the sub-plan funds by diverting them to the Navarathnalu scheme (nine schemes) which catered to all communities instead of SC/ST communities for which the money had been allocated for.
The Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe Sub-Plan was enacted in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2013, to ensure rapid development of the two communities with a focus on equality, economic, educational, and human development, as well as promoting equity among the two groups. Every year, a percentage of the budget is reserved for spending on SC/ST communities in proportion to the population represented by those communities, according to the most recent population census data.
The Scheduled Caste population calculated from the 2011 census for Andhra Pradesh was approximately 17.08% (84,69,278). The Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) rules stipulate that the government must allocate respective funds in proportion. However, only 12.1% (Rs 18,518.29 crore) of total development funds (Rs 1,52,439 crore) was allocated for the year 2022-23. Not only was there a shortfall in allocation, the expenditure pattern of the allocated money left much to be desired.
Except for the year 2017-18, the percentage of expenditure has always been below 90% even though the amount of funds allocated for the sub-plan has risen year-on-year. For instance, when the plan was implemented, the budget for the financial year 2014-2015 was set at Rs 4,576.50 crore, but only Rs 2,602.73 crore were spent, or just 56.87% of that amount. For the financial year 2021-22, Rs 17,403.14 crore was allocated as sub-plan funds, while the expenditure stood at Rs 13,227.17 which is 76% of the amount.
The rules also stipulate the formation of a state council for the development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. It is led by the Chief Minister and is responsible for carrying out the duties outlined in the Act as well as exercising the powers granted to it. The Council must meet twice a year as required by the Act. At the district level, a District Monitoring Committee must be constituted under the chairmanship of the District Collector and is responsible for the implementation of the SC/ST sub-plans in the district. While these committees have been formed in many districts, meetings have not been held periodically at both state and district levels. A Social Welfare Department official in Visakhapatnam told TNM that they have not reviewed the sub-plan implementation for the past two years.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi introduced the ST sub-plan and SC sub-plan in the fifth and sixth five-year plans, respectively. By granting statutory status to the SC and ST sub-plans and ensuring that funds are allocated to these groups in proportion to their populations, Andhra Pradesh became the first state to enact legislation in 2013 for ten years. The funds were supposed to cover buildings for schools and colleges, scholarships, adult education, libraries, free health care, drinking water facilities, agriculture and irrigation facilities, financial support for building approach roads and supporting self-employment and other programmes. Contrary to the purpose it is supposed to serve, the amount allocated for these sub-plans has often been spent on general schemes.
According to a data report prepared by the Dalit Bahujan Resource Centre, the government allocated Rs 10,307 crore of the total sub-plan amount in 2022-23 for general schemes like YSR Pension Kanuka, YSR Rhythu Bharosa etc. As SCs and STs also benefit from these general schemes, successive governments have displayed administrative chicanery by clubbing these SC/ST beneficiaries under sub-plan spending.
In other instances, corporations are formed with much pomp, with nothing to show in terms of schemes introduced or programmes implemented. For instance, more than Rs 4,000 crore was allocated to the AP Scheduled Caste Corporation which gives poor SC households financial support for the creation of assets that can generate income to promote their socio-economic development. In Vizag, officials say that they have a grand total of one scheme – Zero Natural Budget Farming (ZBNF) – that the corporation is funding.
During the 2019 Assembly elections, Jagan Mohan Reddy vowed to implement Navaratnalu, a list of nine welfare programmes widely believed to have swept him into power. The schemes are Amma Vodi (annual financial assistance of Rs 15,000 paid to mothers of school-going children), YSR Asara (outstanding loan waiver of SHGs), Alcohol ban, Jalayagnam (twin Irrigation projects on Penna River in Nellore), Reimbursement of college fees, YSR Arogyasri (health insurance scheme for BPL families), YSR Rythu Bharosa (annual financial assistance of Rs 13,500 to farmers), Pedhalandariki Illu (housing for the poor) and the Pension scheme. In addition, there are programmes for specific communities, such as Nethanna Nestham (financial assistance to handloom weavers) and insurance for toddy tappers. These schemes for general beneficiaries are being implemented enthusiastically, while specific sub-plan schemes have fallen behind.
The National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) started in 2001 exclusively for the development of the SCs. The corporation was meant to be engaged in providing financial assistance at concessional interest rates under various credit schemes and non-credit schemes to beneficiaries having annual family income up to Rs 3 lakh from both rural and urban areas. To this day, the scheme remains on paper.
But, according to a quarterly report published by the Ministry of Statistics and Implementation, released for April-June (2022), AP topped the country in assisting SC families under the SC sub-plan and NSFDC. The report showed that AP provided assistance to 20,29,192 beneficiaries or 98.5% of all beneficiaries listed by all the states in the country. In addition, the state also topped in providing post-matric scholarships to the highest number of students belonging to SC students (3,98,615). In reality, the numbers reflect the beneficiaries under the general schemes and not specifically targeted schemes for SCs.
By not addressing the SC/ST communities through targeted long-term interventions for economic amelioration through money allocated for that specific reason, the AP government is merely casting its net wide for a vote bank, opposition leaders say. Vijay Pedapudi, general secretary of the Janasena Party says, “The CM is officially purchasing votes through the schemes. This gives only immediate financial relief, but what are the indicators that reveal that the beneficiary family has been developed in four years? Rather than making people dependent on welfare schemes, special programmes should be introduced to promote self-employment and skill development.”
Stalin Babu argues that CM Jagan Mohan Reddy is only interested in delivering the Navarathnalu scheme. “But the same kind of medicine cannot be given to all diseases. The same applies to the communities too. There is a huge gap between the marginalised communities and other classes socially and economically. This is the main objective of the sub-plan, but it is not being implemented.”
With the lacklustre approach to schemes under the sub-plans, areas like education have taken a hit. A popular education scheme which provided free education to bright students of SC and ST communities and others for studying in reputed private and government schools was scrapped by the current YSRCP government. The TDP government's Ambedkar Overseas Vidya Nidhi Scheme offered financial aid of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh to SC, ST, and EBC students respectively with an annual family income of Rs 6 lakh, for study abroad in a limited number of foreign countries.
The YSRCP government modified and renamed it to Jagananna Videshi Vidya Deevena in August 2022. Under this scheme, the government would reimburse the total tuition fee of up to Rs 1.25 crore to students from families with an annual income cap of Rs 8 lakh, irrespective of the community if and only if they were accepted into 200 universities for various graduate and research programmes that are included in the most recent QS World University Rankings.
The scheme was criticised as the competition is high in such universities and it is difficult for students from marginalised communities to secure admissions. “Any student from the community who secures an admission in any of the foreign universities should be encouraged by the government,” says Stalin Babu. He points out that an SC/ST student being able to study at a university abroad would help elevate their family’s social and economic standing rapidly.
Another scheme that has not seen the light of day is that of purchasing land for SCs. Under this scheme, landless SCs were supposed to get parcels of tax-free land for better socio-economic standing. The same quarterly report mentioned above shows that AP had distributed zero acres to the landless. The other scheme is that of land pooling wherein SCs and BCs who own non-arable land hand it over to the government for development. Part of the developed land is handed back to the beneficiaries. This scheme has been proceeding at a very slow pace as the land has not been handed back to the landholders in several places.
“The community landholding ratio is very low everywhere in the country. Rather than spend funds on land pooling, the government should try to purchase lands under the sub-plan,” says Andra Malayadri, state secretary of Kula Vivaksha Porata Samithi (KVPS) Andhra Pradesh. He noted that issues like inadequate drinking water facilities in SC colonies and a lack of SC burial grounds are completely neglected.
Elaborating on the unequal delivery of welfare schemes, Vijay Pedapudi points out, “The government provides old age pension of Rs 2,750 per month to senior citizens. People from marginalised communities look forward to that money every month to buy medicines and basic needs as they cannot afford it otherwise. But the upper caste beneficiaries save the money, buy gold or even lend it for interest.”
Professor K Laxmi Narayana of the University of Hyderabad says that special programmes for SCs and STs must be designed bearing in mind every family member. "Through land purchasing schemes, parents of the family can avail benefits. The government should encourage education through scholarships, free education schemes and promote self-employment programmes instead of using them for tokenism," he says.
This reporting is made possible with support from Report for the World, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project.