INTRODUCTION
Karnataka is known to be one of the pioneer States in the implementation of Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and a revolutionary Act was passed during 2013 called the “Karnataka Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act, 2013”, which is an important and integral part of the Planning process intended to ensure the rapid socio-economic development of Scheduled Castes. It is an Act to provide for earmarking a portion of state plan outlay for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and to put in place, an institutional mechanism for preparation, implementation and monitoring of sub-plan and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, in proportion to the population of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Under these Sub-Plans, 17.15% & 6.95% of the total budget allocation is kept aside for the welfare of SC & ST people respectively. Funds from such departments are being allocated and spent for the priority sectors such as Education, Housing, and Irrigation, which bring about overall economic upliftment and infrastructure development of the Schedule Caste people through the following Development Departments during 2016-17.
There are two aspects of the flow of resources for the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan. Firstly, the direct flow of resources through family and individual oriented programmes aimed at economic development. Secondly, the flow of resources to the programmes for Scheduled Caste people through provisions of services, infrastructure and other facilities. During the current financial year, nearly 56,61,000 Scheduled Caste beneficiaries have been assisted under various schemes of Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan in the State till the end of March 2016.
There is a State Level Nodal Agency for these plans, which along with Nodal Department, recommends the inclusion or exclusion of schemes from the Annual Action Plans of the respective department, aggregated for placing before the State Council for Development of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes. The State Level Nodal Agency has a support unit and there are support units both at the Department level and the District Level for implementation of the schemes under these plans. The Annual plans approved by the State Council shall be included in the Demands for Grants of the departments under relevant head of account for the SCSP or TSP. Budget release orders shall be issued to each department for the amount provided in the Budget Estimates for the SCSP & TSP immediately after passing of the budget by the State Legislature in accordance with the provisions of the Act. The department wise achievements and the un-utilized funds’ details will be placed before the State Legislature for necessary actions.