Social Welfare Minister H C Mahadevappa told the Legislative Council on Friday that the funds allocated for Scheduled Castes and Tribes are meant to provide benefits of the guarantee schemes for the people belonging to those communities.
The Opposition BJP and JD(S) argued that the term “utilisation of funds” is nothing but diversion of funds and is against the Karnataka Scheduled Castes Sub-Allocation and Tribal-Sub Allocation (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act, 2013. Interestingly, some members of the ruling Congress expressed opposition for the government’s decision to divert funds.
According to the data provided to the House, the government is planning to utilise Rs 9,980 crore from Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) funds and Rs 4,301 crore from Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) of the total Rs 39,121 crore allocated in the budget towards the guarantee schemes in the current financial year. So far, the government has spent Rs 2,228 crore, including Rs 1,587 crore from the SCSP funds and Rs 641 crore from TSP.
In 2024-2025, the government has estimated to spend Rs 52,009 crore on guarantees. Till July 14, Rs 11,752 crore had been spent. Of the total estimate, Rs 28,608 has been set aside for Gruha Lakshmi, Rs 9,657 crore for Gruha Jyothi, Rs 8,079 crore for Anna Bhagya, Rs 5,015 crore for Shakti and Rs 650 crore for Yuva Nidhi schemes.
Some members told the minister as there were no beneficiaries from SC-ST communities for some schemes. BJP member Shantaram Siddi said that the ST community was not benefitting from Shakti scheme as there were no bus routes to the tribal areas. “This is applicable even for the Gruha Jyothi scheme,” he said.
According to the data tabled by the minister in the House, as many as 101.22 lakh SC/ST beneficiaries, including 30.16 lakh STs are receiving benefits under the Anna Bhagya scheme while 31.12 lakh SC/ST women, including 8.67 ST women, are receiving benefits of the Gruha Lakshmi, 13.90 lakh SC/ST households, including 4.04 lakh ST households, are benefited under the Gruha Jyothi and 44,538 SC/ST students, including 16,262 ST students, have benefited from the Yuva Nidhi scheme.