A new chapter was opened for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday when its Assembly unanimously adopted a Bill to give legislative backing to the Sub-Plans for these disadvantaged sections with a mandatory provision for allocation of nearly a fourth of the State’s annual plan of the budget for them hereafter.
This makes AP the first State in the country to enact the law according legal status to the Sub-Plans as insisted for a long time on States by the Planning Commission and National Development Council (NDC). The legislation will be effective from the State’s 2013-14 budget and if this was enforced last year, a huge sum of Rs. 11,157 crore would have gone to them straightaway from the Rs 48,935-crore plan outlay of the State’s 2012-13 budget (calculated at the statutory 16.23 per cent for SCs and 6.6 per cent for STs).
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The passage of the AP SCs and STs Sub-Plans (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Resources) Bill, shortly before midnight, climaxed a debate spanning three days for which an exclusive session was held. Before the final adoption, amid thumping of desks, the House sat for over 15 hours without a break.
The Opposition, by and large, endorsed the proposal by the Kiran Kumar Reddy Government, except the Telugu Desam, which, however, dubbed the initiative as “one that will do no good” and aimed at the 2014 elections. An amendment sought by its deputy leader, M. Narsimhulu, a Dalit, to incorporate a provision for proportionate allocations to ABCD groups within the SCs based on their populations and socio-economic conditions, was defeated by 22 votes when it was subjected to voting.
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The Chief Minister, in his reply, said the Opposition should not be apprehensive about his decision not to table the report of the Cabinet Sub-Committee based on whose recommendations the Bill was introduced, saying nothing was kept secret as 29 out of 33 of its recommendations had been introduced in the Bill.
The committee, through the remaining recommendations, sought establishment of ombudsman to monitor the Sub-Plans but this job could be handled by the Lokayukta. There was no divergence of opinion over this among the Ministers and party leaders.
He rejected demands by the Opposition for constituting an empowered group of Ministers for monitoring, on the ground that the Ministers would be drafted into the nodal agencies.
The legislation would convert the Sub-Plans a right of the SCs and STs, binding on successive Chief Ministers. There was no constitutional provision to prevent lapsing of SC/ST funds, as the Assembly was empowered to adopt annual budget merely for one year.
He assured the House that the problem could be tackled through an executive order already issued, by which extra allocations equal to the lapsed sums would be made the next year.
Elated: Congress activists celebrating the approval of the SC, ST Sub Plan at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad on Sunday. – Photo: By Special Arrangement
The legislation will be effective from the State’s 2013-14 budget
Opposition, by and large, endorses the proposal by Kiran Kumar Reddy Government