Siddaramaiah cautions Bommai against diverting budgetary allocation meant for development of SCs and STs

Siddaramaiah said that in 2013, when he was Chief Minister, he had set rules in place, according to which 24 per cent of the total budget, which is equivalent to their combined population in the State, had to be earmarked for SC/STs.

Siddaramaiah.

Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah exhorted Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to increase the budgetary allocation for Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Budget slated to be presented on March 4. Addressing a letter to Bommai on February 28, the former Chief Minister urged him not to divert any funds earmarked for the development of Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the State and threatened to launch a protest if there was any deviation in this.

In his letter, Siddaramaiah stated, “The funds being budgeted for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes via the Social Welfare Ministry are reducing every year. During our [Congress’] term, up to Rs.5,000 crores were allocated to the Social Welfare Ministry. After the BJP government came to power, this amount has significantly reduced. In 2020-21, only Rs.3,119 crores were allocated while in 2020-21, only Rs.3,762 crores were allocated to the Social Welfare Ministry.”

Siddaramaiah also added that according to the 2011 Census Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes together constituted 24.1 per cent of the State’s population. He said that in 2013, when he was Chief Minister, he had set rules in place, according to which 24 per cent of the total budget had to be earmarked for SC/STs (Karnataka SCs Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan Act of 2013).

Bommai, who is also the Finance Minister, will present his maiden Budget on March 4. According to economists, he will have to strike a balance between fiscal responsibility, considering that the State is just recovering from the financial distress caused by COVID, and offering sops to the people as elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly are only a year away.