AHMEDABAD: At a rally in Muzaffarpur in March, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had stood beside dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, and declared that the coming decade would be a “decade of dalits” and weaker sections of the country. Back in Gujarat however, over the last decade nearly Rs 3,689 crore of funds for targeted programmes to uplift dalits and economically and socially backward classes, went unutilized, according to dalit group Navsarjan.
Interestingly, Modi, who heads the high-powered committee for scheduled castes and backward communities, chaired its meetings only twice in the last decade. This information was brought forth in an RTI application by Navsarjan on Friday.
At a press meeting, Navsarjan member Kirit Rathod said: “Modi headed the high-powered committee that overlooks fund allocations under the schedule caste sub-plan. He chaired the review meeting twice, once in August 2003, when the committee was formed and in June 2004 — over the last decade,” says Rathod.
The reply also revealed that from 2007 to 2014, the government spent less, because of delays in releasing funds from the state government, than what was fixed for the year. “If in 2007 it was to spend Rs 1,097 crore, it spent Rs 554.16 crore. In 2013, if it was to spend Rs 4,095 crore, the amount spent was Rs 2,850 crore,” says Rathod. “This could have been avoided had the CM taken interest in reviewing the scheduled caste sub-plan fund allocations,” adds Rathod. Rathod’s application also revealed that most of the sub-plan allocation was made under major schemes and budgets like the Narmada canal system, roads and buildings, rural development, labour and employment department among others
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