-Outlook Andhra Pradesh today asked the Centre to increase the number of wage days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from the present 150 to 200 to benefit non-farm labour and marginalised sections of the society. In his speech at the National Development Council meeting which was read out by Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy emphasised the need for synchronising MGNREGS with agriculture...

-The Hindu   Governments of all hues at the Center and state levels have always claimed to be working for uplift of dalits and tribals, two of the most deprived sections in India. Together, they comprise nearly a quarter of India's population. Yet progress has been slow and patchy despite decades of affirmative action. Why?  Part of the answer lies in gross neglect and insincerity of political rulers - this is the conclusion...

The Scheduled Castes and Tribes have been denied over one lakh crore rupees during the Eleventh Plan, says the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights. Uttar Pradesh has been most efficient in the allocation and utilisation of the funds. During the Eleventh Plan period (2007-12), a whopping Rs 1,00,215 crore has been denied to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the Sub-Plans of the Government, according to National Campaign on Dalit...

Any new system for the socio-economic progress of Dalits and other vulnerable sections must not lose sight of Special Component Plan goals. THE Planning Commission's “Approach to the 12th Five Year Plan” deals with the Scheduled Castes (S.C.s) briefly in a portion of Chapter 11 titled “Social and Regional Equity”. It, however, significantly mentions the need to devise a new system that can overcome the difficulties experienced with regard to the...

Budget 2011-12 and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. THREE decades ago, in the early years of the Special Component Plan (SCP) for Scheduled Castes – very recently renamed inappropriately as Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) – Indira Gandhi on her return as Prime Minister wrote two historical D.O. letters dated March 12, 1980, one to Central Ministers and the other to State Chief Ministers, regarding the SCP in the Central...