TS, AP provide highest for welfare

Karnataka comes third in 2017-18 estimates with 6.8% allocation

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh respectively allocated around 10% and 8% of their State budget spending for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, making them the highest and the second highest contributors to welfare among the 29 States for the previous year.

Telangana allocated 9.7% of its budget expenditure for welfare of Dalits, Adivasis and Bahujan communities last year even as Andhra Pradesh allocated 7.9%. Karnataka came third in 2017-18 budget estimates as it allocated 6.8% of its budget for welfare. Maharashtra allocated 5.1% of its budget for SC-ST-OBC welfare schemes in 2017-18. The findings were revealed in PRS Legislative Research organisation’s State of States report-2018.

In 2018-19, the two States further improved their fund allocation for various departments. In this financial year, Telangana increased its budget for Tribal Welfare department alone by 37% (₹5,903 in 2017-18 to 8,063 in 2018-19). In Andhra Pradesh, the Backward Classes welfare department was given an 18.1% rise in budget when compared to 2017-18 (₹4,246 to ₹5,014), PRS’s preliminary findings on AP budget read.

According to the PRS study, “Welfare programmess for SC, ST and OBCs include expenditure on scholarships, in addition to construction and maintenance of hostels for students”.

States that lag

Some States have allocated a very small percentage of their annual budget for welfare schemes of backward communities. In Jammu and Kashmir, 0.2% of the budget was allocated for such schemes. In Haryana, 0.8% of the total budget was allocated for SC-ST-OBC welfare schemes. Delhi and Chhattisgarh allocated just 1% of their budget for welfare schemes and Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal allocated 1.4% and 1.6% of their 2017-18 budget for similar programmes. In the South, Tamil Nadu allocated 2.2% of its budget for schemes which are exclusively meant for deprived communities.

In many States, budget for irrigation and agriculture included special welfare schemes for different backward communities. However, when it came to schemes exclusively for these populations, States that rank high on development indices, including Gujarat and Kerala, spent 2.6% and 2.8% of their annual budget on welfare of SC, ST and OBC populations.

PRS Research marked an over-all under spending in SC-ST-OBC welfare sectors in 2017-18. “...rural development witnessed the highest under-spending, followed by irrigation (13%), and welfare of (13%),” the report read.