Dear Friends,

The Planning Commission of India has set up a Task Force to Review the existing Guidelines on Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) in 2010. The task force has submitted its report on 25th November 2010 and is due to be approved by the cabinet. We observe that this report is total dilution of the original spirit of the policy.

The report has exempted 43 ministries from allocating funds under SCSP and TSP and another 10 ministries to allocate funds less than 15% and 9 ministries to allocate between 15-16% and only 6 ministries to allocate beyond 16.2%. This recommendation not only reduces the availability of funds by 37% (approximately) but also limits the SCSP support to primary sectors and keeps no obligation to the ministries which are considered as the growth engines of the modern society. 

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The National Commission for Scheduled Castes will be organizing awareness camps in all divisions/mandals of all States/UTs in order to disseminate the information about their rights and safeguards provided in the Constitution of India. The Commission during its interaction with various organizations has observed that the majority of Scheduled Caste people are not aware of their rights and they need to be informed extensively about it.

As per NFHS-3, undernutrition is 42.5 % in children below five years. It is 47.9% in Scheduled castes, 54.5% in scheduled tribes and 42.3% in other backward classes. In rural areas it is 45.6 % as compared to 32.7 % in urban areas. 35.6 % of women suffer from Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED). The prevalence of CED in rural areas is 40.6% compared to 25 % in urban areas. It is 41.1% in Scheduled castes, 46.6% in scheduled tribes and 35.7 % in other backward classes.

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Percentage of Scheduled Caste population to total population as per 2001 Census, in India, and in States/Union Territories, is mentioned in the table below:

 Percentage of Scheduled Caste (SC) population to total population in India and States/Union Territories, as per 2001 Census

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The 43rd Session of the Indian Labour Conference (ILC), the apex national tripartite body that discusses key issues affecting labour and employment and provides policy perspectives and recommendations, was inaugurated by Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India in New Delhi today.   The ILC is being attended by senior level representatives from the three pillars of tripartism, namely, Government, Trade Unions and Employers’ Associations.

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The details of schemes for providing pre-matric and post-matric scholarships to SC/OBC students are given below :-The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is implementing the following centrally sponsored schemes for providing pre-matric and post-matric scholarships to SC/OBC students. All these schemes are implemented by the State Governments/UT administrations, which are provided Central assistance in accordance with the funding pattern of each scheme.

The Constitution of India provides several safeguards and provisions to provide justice and welfare to tribals. The enactments of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989 and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006 are major steps by the Government to provide justice and welfare to the tribals.

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