Centre increases schemes allocation for SC/ST

Shillong, Oct 12 (UNI) The Centre has increased fund allocation for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes from Rs 12,592 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 17,691 crore in 2007-08.

An official statement here today said the Centre, as part of its plan of increasing the fund allocation each year, has further increased the amount by more than Rs 5,000 crore in this fiscal.

The funds for tribal development are sourced from State Plans, Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub Plan, Grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution and funds under other schemes of the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Besides, funds are also sourced from sectoral programmes of Central ministries or departments and from Institutional Finance.

These funds are used for implementation of developmental programmes in the tribal areas, and for the STs in the fields of education, health, agriculture, horticulture, small industries, artisans and other income-generating activities.

Funds from the State Plans and sectoral programmes are quantified by the Central and State govt. departments in proportion to the percentage of tribal population of the areas.

The Ministry, during the year 2006-07, has been advocating the need for an effective Tribal Sub-Plan component (8% for Central Ministries/Departments), to be put in a separate budget head which is non-divertible and non-lapsable on the pattern of the funds earmarked for the North East Region.

This will allow implementation of programmes/schemes for tribals in a more focused and integrated manner and to avoid spreading of resources too thinly.

UNI