SC, ST Sub-Plan funds approved

Chief Minister instructs officials for speedy implementation

Hyderabad : State Council For Development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has approved different proposals of the SC Sub-Plan to the tune of Rs 8,429.67 crore and Tribal Sub-Plan worth of Rs 5,503.08 crore for the year 2013-14. The budget is pertaining to 43 departments under Tribal Sub-Plan and 26 departments under SC Sub-Plan.

The second meeting of the Council, which was held in Secretariat on Tuesday under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, took various decisions including extension of free power up to 50 units to SC and ST colonies. Chief Minister directed the officials to frame guidelines and issue administrative sanction and also government orders at the earliest, if possible by month end. "The work should be completed on a mission mode with definite milestones", he directed the officials.

He asked the officials to appoint a Group I Officer in each district to constantly monitor and complete the programs right on schedule and monitoring committees to be constituted immediately. He said that poorest of the poor should be given priority and they should be issued ration cards without delay. He asked the officials to take up construction of individual toilets on top priority and said the case of Chenchus and Yanadis in plain areas should also be taken up in the development programmes.

The works pertaining to various departments of the State Government like Social Welfare, Rural Development, Housing, Agriculture, Rajiv Vidya Mission, SERP, TRANSCO, Health and Family Welfare, School Education, Horticulture, Industries, Panchayat Raj, Animal Husbandry, Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Fisheries, LIDCAP, Employment and Training, Irrigation, Housing, Indiramma Vidya Nilayam, Bangaru Talli and Indiramma Kalalu should be chalked out and be executed in a speedy manner, Kiran told to the officials. Regarding the houses to be built for the SCs and STs, the Chief Minister said that one activist should be appointed to oversee construction and completion of the houses.

He also wanted correct data to be surveyed about the SCs and STs in the state. He said that a comprehensive data base created in this regard and evaluation of the works should be done by a third party.A In his first meeting on the subject Kiran reddy emphasized to make efforts to ensure that funds are spent as per gaps identified. Analysis of poverty studies as well as impact of existing schemes needed to be taken up. Officials said that analysis of the data concerning poorest of poor gathered in a survey of 9.8 lakh families in 619 mandals carried out by the SERP was being utilised for identification of gaps.

As per the 2011 census, there are 36,71,634 SC households and 15,60,035 ST households in the State. The officials said that rules had been drafted by the Tribal Welfare department for TSP. A committee is to be constituted with Tribal Welfare, Social Welfare, Finance, Planning Departments and CESS for finalization and approval by State Council. The proposals recommended by the Nodal Agencies under Indiramma Kalalu to the tune of Rs 857 crore under TSP and Rs 2,078.28 crore under SCSP were approved by the State Council.

Minister seeks funds for Yanadis

Hyderabad: Issue of allocation of funds to Yanadi, a tribe living in urban areas, has been raised in the second meeting of SC and ST Development Council on Tuesday.

Minister for Municipal Administration M Maheedhara Reddy reportedly said that the Yanadis were ignored in the Tribal Sub-Plan and it should be corrected immediately. He said that the government made tall claims for tribals in TSP, but had not considered the Yanadi caste in the State. At one stage, a heated argument took place between two IAS officers, Raymond Peter and Sam Bob, on the issue of funds allocation to Tribal Sub-Plan and SC-SP in urban areas. Minister Maheedhar Reddy intervened and asked for clarification on the funds to Yanadi.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy stated that all the tribes would be allocated funds as per their population proportion. Interestingly, Deputy Chief Minister D Rajanarasimha and Minister K Jana Reddy had not attended the meeting.

'Frame guidelines for SCSP, TSP' Hyderabad: Minister for Social Welfare P Satyanarayana said that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy asked the officials to complete the framing of guidelines and rules to implement the SCSP and TSPs and issue orders pertaining to it within a month. Addressing the media, Satyanarayana said that the meeting on SCSP and TSP discussed various things like free power to SC and ST colonies and extending all scholarships to the students of these groups. He added that the government was also committed to implement to SCSP and TSP in full-proof manner.