Karnataka: Don't divert SC/ST funds, Congress lawmakers tell government

Bengaluru: Ministers and Congress MLAs from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community on Monday urged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to remove Section 7C of the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan and Tribal Plan Act that allows the money to be spent for general sector schemes like education, health, guarantees and so on.

As per the Act, money in proportion to the population of SC and STs (24.1% as per the 2011 census) has to be provided to them in the Budget. 

Scrapping 7C effectively means that, under the Act, money cannot be used for guarantee schemes. Ever since the Congress came to power in 2023, the opposition BJP and JD(S) have been accusing the government of “diverting” SCSP/TSP funds for guarantees. 

Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa, Home Minister G Parameshwara, Food and Civil Supplies Minister K H Muniyappa, IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge, Excise Minister R B Timmapur and legislators such as P M Narendraswamy, Sudham Das and others participated in it.

The delegation urged the chief minister to ensure that officials are punished for not complying with the provisions of the SCSP/TSP Act. They also highlighted that the Human Development Index (HDI) of people from SC and ST communities must be improved.

The legislators are learnt to have sought higher stipends for SC/ST students travelling abroad, explained the need to ensure that recruitment is done from backlogs. 

According to sources, the delegation also noted that there were departmental inquires on people from SC/ST communities whenever they were due for promotions. 

Arguing that most of the people from SC and ST communities vote for the Congress, the legislators and ministers urged the chief minister to provide Cabinet berths to them in proportion to their voting percentage for the party. The delegation also sought more money for boards and corporations. 

The chief minister is said to have positively responded to the demands. A similar meeting is also expected to be held with Congress MLAs and minister (Satish Jarkiholi) from the ST community.