356 Implementation of the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) in Orissa -By Sashiprava Bindhani and Siba Sankar Mohanty

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Democratizing Debate on Development

Implementation of the Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan (SCSP) in Orissa

Sashiprava Bindhani

Siba Sankar Mohanty

Preliminary findings of a recent study initiated by Network for Social Accountability (NSA) on the implementation of Scheduled Caste Sub Plan in Orissa reveals glaring gaps in the programme. Although the overall implementation of the sub-plan is not very far from the scheduled norms, a deeper analysis of the implementation show that the real benefits of the programme is not reaching the targeted groups.

The strategy of Special Component Plan (SCP) now called the Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) evolved in 1979 as one of the most important interventions through the planning process for social, economic and educational development of members of the Scheduled Castes and for improvement in their working and living conditions. It is an umbrella strategy to ensure flow of targeted financial and physical benefits from all the general sectors of development for the benefit of Scheduled Castes. Under this strategy, States/UTs and Central Ministries are required to formulate and implement Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) as part of their annual plans by earmarking resources in proportion to their share in total population. Presently, 27 States/UTs having sizeable SC populations are implementing Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan.

The overall situation is Orissa appears that the government in the last few years have more or less adhered to the population norm. As against a population proportion of 16.53 percent for the Scheduled Castes, the government of Orissa have allocated 13.34 percent of the plan expenditure in 2007-08. In the allocations for the subequent years, it increased to 15.47 percent in 2008-09 and remained at the same level in 2009-10 estimates also (See Table-1). On the overall appearance, the figures seem moderate but a deeper analysis of the budgets for SCSP explains the continuous apathy of the government towards the very idea of targeted development of the dalits in the country.

Table-1

Proportion of SCSP in total Plan Entitlements in Orissa

	Accounts	BE	RE	BE
	2007-08	08-09	08-09	09-10
	13.34	15.47	15.47	15.06
Proportion of Scheduled Caste Population in the State	16.53	16.53	16.53	16.53

An analysis of the plan budget of the government of Orissa reveals that 12 departments in the state did not allocate a single rupee towards the SCSP over last three years. Some of these departments include Law, Commerce, Steel and Mines, Tourism and Public Entreprises etc., which could have been very useful for the welfare of the Scheduled Caste population in the state. If one takes into consideration the ideal proportion of money that could have been allocated under the programmes run by these departments, the SC communities in the state have lost more than Rs. 400 crores over last four years. This money could have been used directly for the welfare of the members of Scheduled Caste community in the state. There are certain schemes and programmes run by these departments the benefits for which did not reach the SC population in the state.

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Table-2

List of Departments that did not allocate a single rupee under Scheduled Caste Sub

Plan during 2007-08 Actual and 2009-10 BE

Major Head	Demand No	Total Allocation SCSP (Rs Crore)	Total Plan Allocation (Rs Crore)	Department wise SCSP money lost (Rs Crore)
General Adm	2	0.0	90.7	15.00
Law	4	0.0	16.6	2.74
Finance	5	0.0	53.1	8.77
Commerce	6	0.0	18.8	3.10
Orissa Legislative Assembly	8	0.0	0.0	0.00
SCST	11	0.0	1441.7	238.31
Public Grievance & Penson Administration Department	18	0.0	0.0	0.00
Steel and mines	24	0.0	11.5	1.90
Parliamentary Affairs Department	29	0.0	0.0	0.00
Tourism	32	0.0	148.2	24.49
Public enterprises	35	0.0	110.1	18.20
Total				312.51

During 2007-08 till 2009-10, as many as 25 departments in the state governments allocated less than the stipulated amount for SCSP. As against the ideal allocation of around Rs. 17 crore, the department of Food Supplies allocated merely Rs. 4 crore towards SCSP during these years. Against the ideal allocation of Rs. 287 crores the actual amount allocated was only Rs. 91 crore in the Department of Health and Family Welfare. In department of Energy, only Rs. 97 crores were allocated against the stipulated amount of Rs. 129 crores during these years. Almost all the departments where benefits can be easily targeted towards the SC communities have allocated less than what was required under the guidelines of the SCSP. Surprisingly, the Department for SCST welfare, an agency devoted for the cause of the welfare of the SCSTs, have not allocated any money towards the scheduled caste sub plan. Some other departments include, Housing and urban poverty alleviation, Labour and Employment, School and Mass Education, Women and Child Development and so on.

In addition to the above, there are certain departments where the proportion of allocations declined substantially in 2009-10 in comparison to some of the earlier years. Take for example, the case of Department of higher education. In the year 2007-08, the department was spending around 35 percent of its total pie towards SCSP indicating a significant commitment towards the cause of the SC communities and their need for higher education. The proportion however declined to only 16.6 percent in 2009-10. While the allocation by the department is still in coherence with the norms of SCSP, the trend shows a clear trade off between commitments towards a disadvantaged section of population and a mere technical adherence to the norms under the programme. In department of fisheries, the proportional allocation towards SCSP declined from 22 percent in 2008-09 budget to 17 percent in 2009-10 budget. In the works department, the allocation declined from around 26 percent in 2007-08 to 19 percent in 2009-10 budget. In the department of Agriculture, the SCSP allocations have declined from 17 percent in 2008-09 to 12 percent in 2009-10. Table-4 provides a detailed list of departments that have declined their proportional allocation towards SCSP.

Table-3

Departments where SCSP allocation is less than the Stipulated over last four years

Major Head	Total Allocation SCSP (Rs Crore)	Total Plan Allocation (Rs Crore)	SCSP as proportion of Total Plan Allocation (%)	Ideal SCSP Allocation during this phase in Rs Crore	Department wise SCSP money lost (Rs Crore)
Orissa Legislative Assembly	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00
Public Grievance & Penson Administration Department	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00
Parliamentary Affairs Department	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.00	0.00
Excise	0.3	2.0	13.9	0.34	0.05
Sports and youth	7.3	49.7	14.6	8.21	0.95
Science and techno	10.7	72.2	14.8	11.93	1.26
Steel and mines	0.0	11.5	0.0	1.90	1.90
Labour &Empl	13.3	94.0	14.2	15.54	2.22
Information&public	1.3	23.6	5.5	3.90	2.60
Law	0.0	16.6	0.0	2.74	2.74
Commerce	0.0	18.8	0.0	3.10	3.10
Transport	3.3	48.2	6.8	7.97	4.70
Cooperation	27.9	202.3	13.8	33.45	5.53
Information techno	12.1	108.2	11.2	17.88	5.80
Home	30.9	230.7	13.4	38.13	7.23
Foodsupplies	3.0	64.3	4.7	10.63	7.61
Finance	0.0	53.1	0.0	8.77	8.77
Textile	17.7	162.6	10.9	26.88	9.20
Revenue& Disast	9.0	110.7	8.1	18.30	9.32
General Adm	0.0	90.7	0.0	15.00	15.00
Industries	30.9	279.6	11.1	46.21	15.31
Public enterprises	0.0	110.1	0.0	18.20	18.20
Agril	124.9	871.9	14.3	144.12	19.22
Tourism	0.0	148.2	0.0	24.49	24.49
Energy	51.3	542.0	9.5	89.59	38.33
School and mass education	172.2	1276.2	13.5	210.95	38.80
Planning & coordination	181.3	1350.4	13.4	223.22	41.94
Housing and urban	159.9	1432.1	11.2	236.73	76.81
Women and child	534.4	3846.9	13.9	635.89	101.50
Health and family	62.5	1138.2	5.5	188.15	125.70
SCST	0.0	1441.7	0.0	238.31	238.31
Total of the Above	1453.9	13796.3	10.5	2280.53	826.61

Of course, there are a handful of departments where the proportional allocation towards SCSP has increased over last few years. The allocation for SCSP in the Home Department has increased from a mere 7 percent in 2007-08 to 15.6 percent in 2009-10. In Department of Water Resources, the allocations have increased from 10.2 percent in 2007-08 to 23 percent in 2009-10. In Transport department, it has increased from 0.2 percent in 2007-08 to 8.4 percent in 2009-10. in total, there were 14 such departments in which allocations for SCSP have increased in proportion the total Plan allocation in 2009-10 in comparison to some of the earlier years. Such increase have been able to compensate for decline of allocation in 25 other departments. This might seem impressive, but in reality most of these increased allocation does not reach the targeted SC population in the state to provide welfare to the specific section of population. Deeper analysis of the budget documents reveal further concerns in these departments where the so called increase in allocation is witnesses over last few years.

Table-4

Departments where the proportions of allocations have declined between 2007-08 Actual and 2009-10 BE

Major Head	Accounts	BE	RE	BE
	2007-08	08-09	08-09	09-10
Works	25.6	19.4	13.2	18.7
School and mass ed	13.3	14.9	14.4	12.9
Health and family	6.7	7.9	7.7	3.8
Planning & coordinat	16.9	13.5	14.8	9.5
Panchyatiraj	20.9	19.4	19.9	20.6
Agril	14.9	17.0	17.0	11.7
Information&public	5.8	8.3	5.1	5.8
Excise		13.1	13.9
Science and techno	11.1	18.0	19.0	9.5
rural dev	23.2	19.4	19.8	15.0
Energy	0.0	19.7	13.0	17.5
Textile	6.6	16.4	16.4	10.5
Fisheries	12.6	21.6	23.2	17.3
Women and child	14.0	14.3	13.8	13.9
Information techno	13.9	12.9	12.0	9.0
Higher edu	35.1	17.4	15.5	16.6

Table-5

Departments where Allocations for SCSP have increased substantially over last few years

Major Head	Accounts		BE		RE		BE
	2007-08	08-09		08-09		09-10
Home	6.9	14.8		16.1		15.6
Revenue& Disast	0.4	7.0		1.8		14.0
Food supplies	5.1	2.6		2.7		13.1
Housing and urban	7.5	12.7		13.0		14.5
Labour &Empl	3.9	4.9		15.0		15.2
Sports and youth	10.3	18.4		13.5		18.4
Industries	6.8	14.2		15.0		17.0
Water resource	10.2	18.4		22.3		23.0
Transport	0.2	13.0		9.7		8.4
Forest & environment	19.8	20.2		20.8		20.5
Energy	0.0	19.7		13.0		17.5
Textile	6.6	16.4		16.4		10.5
Fisheries	12.6	21.6		23.2		17.3
Cooperation	9.8	13.0		15.5		16.1

Starting with the Home department, most of the SCSP money is meant for salaries of the new staff, purchase of office equipments, construction of buildings for jail, police stations and barracks etc. In the Department for Revenue and Disaster the increase in the proportional allocation account for expenses towards publication of maps, computerisation of registration offices of the state, setting of E-registration units, grants to Orissa Redcross Society, construction of building for installation of Doppler Weather Radar Stations through OSDMA and so on. In Department of Food Supplies the SCSP allocations include subsidy to Orissa Civil Supply Corporation. In Department of Housing and Urban poverty Alleviation, SCSP allocation ionclude cost towards sewerage treatment plant at Puri, grants to Orissa Water Supply and Sewerage Board, grants to ULBs for implementation of e-Governance system, grants to ULBs for development of parks, and greenery, grants to ULBs for construction of boundary walls for protection of Govt. land.

SCSP has a lot of potential in the state of Orissa for the wellbeing of the downtrodden. Most of the SC population in Orissa live in conditions of abysmal poverty, social discrimination and backwardness. For most of their basic needs, majority of them depend on nature for their livelihood and on the government for critical survival requirements. In this context, SCSP could have played a crucial role in their uplift. However, government apathy towards this programme have gone to such an extent that despite doing harm to the causes of the SC communities by poorly managing the funds earmarked for SC, the government is shamelessly taking credit for adhering to the technical norms. This brazen betrayal of the government towards the causes of the SC calls for proactive civil society engagement with the policy makers in making SCSP actualise its potential to bring in social and economic justice for the Scheduled Caste population in the state.

[Siba Sankar Mohanty works as National Campaign Coordinator of Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (WNTA), Sashiprava Bindhani is associated with Network for Social Accountability (NSA) as a Honorary Director]

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Network for Social Accountability (NSA) Efforts towards Effective Implementation of Scheduled Caste Sub Plan in Orissa

Network for Social Accountability (NSA) in its efforts towards advocating for the causes of the most marginalised sections of population have initiated a process of preparing District Level Citizen Report Card on implementation SCSP in Orissa. The process would involve thousands on dalit activists, members of NSA and its partners in 314 blocks of Orissa and the academia to assess the structure of governance and other issues related to the SCSP in the state. OXFAM India has come forward to support this initiative on a pilot basis. The outcomes of this process is expected to be released in February 2009-10 to rank districts as per different indicators related to the implementation of SCSP in the state. Network for Social Accountability (NSA) is interested to take forward this activity on an ongoing basis and would explore possibilities of undertaking similar activities in Tribal Sub-Plan and Women Component Plan in coming days. The broad objectives of this effort include;

To probe into the issue of implementation of the Scheduled Caste Subplan at the district level and highlight the key areas that deserve attention in each district.
To develop indicators of assessment to study the district level performance in implementing SCSP.
To analyse the district level information on the implementation of SCSP and compile those information into 2-3 page district report card.
To compile all district level information into a report. An index of performance in a 100 point scale will be developed and the districts will be ranked as per their performance.
To organize a media release of the report of District Level citizen report Cards and follow up with a suitable media advocacy strategy.

Please contact Network for Social Accountability (NSA) for more details on the initiative.

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