Pramod Madhwaraj, Minister of State for Fisheries, Youth Services and Sports, said on Friday that the welfare measures of the government were not reaching the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes properly. He was speaking at the 126th Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations organised by the district administration and the zilla panchayat at the Ambedkar Bhavan here.
Mr. Madhwaraj said that about 70 years after Independence, even after providing reservation and taking up several welfare measures, the condition of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes had not seen improvement to the desired level. A few Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes families knew how to approach government offices and only they were availing the benefits of government schemes, while the others were left behind, he said.
The government had made rules and regulations to see to it that the funds allotted for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were used for that purpose only and not diverted for other works, he added.
The State government, which had allocated ₹ 18,000 crore for Tribal Sub Plan and Special Component Plan for the welfare of weaker sections of society last year, had increased it to ₹ 27,000 crore this year, he said. Earlier, inaugurating a State-level Study Camp on Ambedkar, Mr. Madhwaraj said that it was the architect of the Constitution, B.R. Ambedkar, who wanted equal rights of inheritance for women.
He was also responsible for labour protection laws in the country. “Ambedkar belongs not just to the Dalit community but to the entire country. People, especially, the students, should follow the ideals of Ambedkar,” he said.
NSS volunteers
At present, there were 4.5 lakh National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers in the State. The Department of Youth Services wanted this number to touch 10 lakh.
The State government had increased the budget for NSS from ₹ 8 crore last year to ₹ 13 crore this year. Hence, he had asked the heads of NSS to draw up an action plan to use this money. The State government had also increased the allocation for his Sports Department from ₹ 145 crore to ₹ 285 crore, he said.
Dinakar Babu, president of the Udupi Zilla Panchayat, Meenakshi Bannanje, president of Udupi City Municipal Council, Nalini Rao, president of the Udupi Taluk Panchayat, Shivasundar, columnist, Priyanka Mary Franics, Deputy Commissioner, Roshan Shetty, Assistant Director of Sports and Youth Empowerment, were present.
