Spending on SC/ST welfare: A story of money lost in transit

A substantial part of the amount allocated does not reach the targeted groups because of a clause in the Act

Since 2014, Karnataka has spent an impressive ₹1.84 lakh crore on the welfare and development of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribe (STs), who jointly constitute 24.1% of the State’s population. Yet, government data reveals that the communities are lagging behind the State averages in several parameters.

While the amount spent — a mandate after the Karnataka Scheduled Castes Sub-Allocation and Tribal Sub-Allocation (Planning, Allocation & Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act, 2013, came into force on April 1, 2014, allocating resources as per the population ratio — looks big on paper, in reality, data reveals, a large portion of the total amount has not reached the targeted population. In Karnataka, the SCs and STs constitute 17.15% and 6.95%, respectively, of the total population as per the 2011 Census.

After the Act came into force, as much as ₹2.26 lakh crore has been allocated to the Social Welfare Department, to be disbursed to different departments to undertake welfare works for the communities. While ₹1.9 lakh crore out of the ₹2.26 lakh crore allocated has been released, about ₹1.84 lakh crore has been spent.

The spent amount includes about ₹1.32 lakh crore for the welfare of SCs and about ₹52,000 crore for ST welfare. The data is part of an analysis done by the Planning and Statistics Department recently. If the total amount spent is calculated on the State’s expenditure per family, it comes to about ₹66.09 lakh per SC family of an estimated 20.9 lakh SC families in the State, while it is about ₹62 lakh per ST family of an estimated 84,000 families in the State, government sources pointed out.

However, one particular clause, it turns out, has been used extensively to divert funds. Section 7 D of the Act allows a certain amount of money to be used in exceptional cases on works that cannot be divided and considers such expenditure as “deemed expenditure”. This has been used to divert funds for general purposes. Senior officials in the Social Welfare Department, however, insist that it cannot be termed as “diversion” since the Act provides for it.

A perusal of data of six big spending and infrastructure creating departments in the State — Public Works, Urban Development, Major Irrigation, Minor Irrigation, Health, and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj — shows that of the ₹1.32 lakh crore spent on the SC welfare, ₹44, 356 crore or about 26% of the total money has been largely spent for general purposes. Similarly, of the ₹52,700 crore spent on ST welfare, 30% of the funds or about ₹15,938 crore has been largely utilised by these six departments alone. Similarly, other departments have also used funds for infrastructure creation for the general public. Money is being spent on “contract-oriented works” that does not directly contribute to the welfare of SC/STs, sources said.

According to government sources, the money is being allocated and spent by various departments without an understanding of the development gaps that exist between the SC/ST population and the general population. For example, focus should have been on spending money meant for the SC/STs in 109 taluks of the State where their population is more than the State average of 24.1% instead of spreading thin resources across the State, sources said. “It is unfortunate that there has been no deep focus on education, literacy, malnutrition, skill development, and training that would have empowered the downtrodden communities,” said president of the Karnataka SC/ST Government Employees Association D. Chandrashekaraiah, underlining the need for targeted schemes.