The State Budget presented by Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal on Thursday earmarked ₹2979.40 crore for the Scheduled Caste (SC) Sub Plan. This includes ₹1,638.10 crore for the Scheduled Caste Development Department and ₹1,341.30 crore for Local Self-Government institutions.
The Budget has provided ₹429.61 crore for educational assistance of SC students. This includes ₹70 crore for the construction of the Palakkad Medical College. The total provision is ₹104 crore more than that of 2022-23.
An amount of ₹65 crore was allocated as the State’s share for the post-matric scholarship of SC students, while ₹7.20 crore was set apart as the State’s share for the new pre-matric scholarship for SC students’ studies in Standards 9 and 10. The budget set apart ₹50 crore for skill development programme for SC youths. A sum of ₹13 crore was allocated for the management of model residential schools, including the Ayyankali Memorial Model Residential Sports School at Vellayani, Thiruvananthapuram. An amount of ₹180 crore was provided for the purchase of land for the construction of houses for poor and landless SC families. Around 5,000 landless families are intended to be benefited.
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The Budget provided ₹205 crore for the completion of partially constructed houses, renovation of dilapidated houses, and construction of study rooms, while ₹2 lakh was earmarked for each family for constructing study rooms.
An amount of ₹50 crore was provided for the development programmes for vulnerable communities among SCs, and a financial assistance of ₹84.39 crore was provided for the marriage of SC girls.
A sum of ₹60 crore was earmarked for the Dr. Ambedkar Village Development Scheme, and ₹1 crore will be provided as assistance to each colony.
The Budget set apart ₹53 crore for healthcare schemes, while ₹45 crore was earmarked as corpus fund for critical gap filling schemes with special emphasis on human resource development, basic needs, and economic development under the SC Sub Plan.
