Southern States
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Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad
Social Welfare Minister sets priorities for officials
By Our Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD, DEC. 11 The Government has set aside Rs. 42 crores for distribution of assets/benefits to SCs during the 15th round of Janmabhoomi, January 2 to 11, which is being undertaken with weaker sections welfare as the main theme.
Announcing this at a meeting of executive directors (ED) of the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes Finance Corporation here on Tuesday, the Minister for Social Welfare, Mr J. R. Pushpa Raju, said of this Rs. 4 crores was meant for benefits to Jogins alone. During the programme, an intense campaign would be undertaken against manual scavenging also.
The Minister asked the EDs to follow a scientific system to confer the benefits on SCs. He reasoned that SCs, numbering 1.25 crores, constituted 16.5 per cent of the State's population put at 7.5 crores and if the coverage of 38 lakh families so far with Rs. 2,000 crores since 1974 when the SC Corporation came into existence, was true as officially projected, none of the SCs would have remained below the poverty line now. Annually, the Corporation was implementing programmes, including the land-purchase scheme, with an outlay of Rs 100 crores. In 1999-2000, Rs 93 crores was spent for 1.13 lakh families, and the next year, Rs 91 crores covering 78,965 families.
Mr. Pushpa Raju said the Corporation had prepared a Rs 163-crore action plan for 2001-2 to cover 90,063 families. Of this, allocations would be made to districts based on relative percentage of SCs population, and coverage was being extended to scavengers, Jogins and flayers/tanners.
The Minister called shameful the existence of the Jogin system, and manual scavenging. By 2000-end, 38,000 manual scavengers were rehabilitated and for continuing the programme, Rs. 65 crores was set aside now.
Referring to the complaints of corruption against EDs, he said he would condone lapses by them even four times but after this, he would take stringent action. The officials should think that they got a god-given chance to serve the downtrodden and they should not feel that their job was a ``stop-gap'' arrangement.
He spoke of existence of 2,210 hostels run by the department and 230 residential institutions run by residential educational institutions society attached to the department, both having about 3.5 lakh students, and said a lot needed to be done regarding examination results. In this context, he referred to 56.6 per cent pass in the SSC examination last year by the inmates of these hostels and 87 per cent by those of residential institutions compared to 65.11 per cent -- the State average.
Introducing the subject earlier, Mr Areti Kotaiah, chairman, DSC Corporation, said in a poetic vein that officials should distribute among the SC ``janata''( people) ``mamata'' (love) with the a sense of ``samata'' (equality). The Secretary of the department, Mr. Jannath Hussain, warned the EDs of stringent action if they committed any lapse or if they delayed the benefit. He said all their past histories would be forgotten and grading would be done afresh depending on their performance vis-a-vis the set targets.
Among those present were Mr M. Samuel, Commissioner for Social Welfare, Mrs P. Shanti Kumari, Secretary, Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society.
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