Given Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s political plank of AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) all eyes were predictably on social welfare allocations. More so in a context where the Sangolli Rayanna Brigade, steered by the BJP leaders, is trying to edge its way into this constituency. The outlay for the sector has gone up by 25% compared to last year, from ₹9,341 crore to ₹11,771.
The repeated insistence of Dalit groups, prior to the budget, was that there should be greater emphasis on schemes to empower them rather than offer freebies. To an extent, this seems to have been heard, with money allocated for hostels, new schools, skill development, loans for self-employment, and the like. Some innovative schemes for minorities include digital libraries for hostels and 200 model schools to bring dropouts back to school. It proposes some out-of-the-box initiatives such as preference to children of safai karmacharis in admission to residential schools. There is an allocation of ₹100 crore especially for nomadic tribes, which are microscopic minorities.
But, that is not a reason to believe that Mr. Siddaramaiah has entirely moved away from targeting specific caste groups, especially so in the OBC category. There are a slew of programmes aimed at communities like Madivala, Savitha Samaja, Thigala, Kumbara, Uppara, Vishwakarma, and Ediga, and the like, with the setting up of development corporations for some instances. However , amidst big allocations, the big question on their implementation remains uncertainas always. A sobering reminder of the reality is that of the allocations made last year under the Karnataka Scheduled Caste Sub-plan and Tribal Sub-plan Act, 2013, the money spent was just 38 per cent until Jan.-end, despite constitutional obligations.
