Sub-plan will give teeth to SC, Tribal Welfare departments

The Social Welfare and the Tribal Welfare departments will get more teeth if the SC, Tribal Sub-Plan becomes law, once it is tabled in the announced special session of the state Assembly.

 Subsequently, the departments will have control over close to 12,800 crore of funds (Rs 8,657 for Scheduled Castes and Rs 4,060 crore for Scheduled Tribes).

 The two departments will be nodal bodies to monitor and evaluate expenditure for various schemes and its effective implementation, as per the recommendation of the Cabinet Sub Committee on SCSP/TSP.

 The departments would more or less be like mini finance departments.

 A research wing also needs to be set up to come up with realistic plans which will accelerate development and welfare of SCs and STs, said a senior official.

 In the existing setup, certain percentage of the budgetary allocations for the departments is getting diverted and adjusted in different accounts.

 Currently, there is no rule to make one accountable for the fault.

 ‘’Currently, it’s purely obligatory for the departments to implement funds, but it could be made responsible only if the bill becomes an Act.

 We hope that the proposed report on the Sub-Plan had been given serious consideration,’’ said B Danam, a retired IAS officer.

 In the new setup, the nodal departments, Social Welfare Department and Tribal Welfare Department, will appraise the proposed sub-plans before preparing a state sub-plan.

 The entire exercise will be done before the preparation of the state budget in which allocations for the sub-plan will be earmarked based on the proportion of population and plan size, 16.2 percent in case of scheduled castes and 6.6 percent for STs.

 The subplan for the year will also be presented in the assembly during budget session.

 The nodal departments will continue monitoring and evaluating the scheme, and if needed, they will re-appropriate the SCSP and TSP funds.

 They will also coordinate with other departments for the preparation of state level and district level SCSP and TSP.

 Further, they will be entrusted with the task of maintaining a web portal enabling tracking of progress of the schemes, expenditure and the output.

 In other words, entire SCSP and TSP will be put online, with necessary management information system (MIS) in place.

 The two nodal departments will also facilitate periodical social audit SCSP and TSP funds.

 According to sources, the sub committee report also mentions that the departments may prioritise allocations.