Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Outlay for SC/ST welfare in coming budget kicks up a row

Girish Menon

Finance Department opposed to making the mandatory 12 per cent allocation

Thiruvananthapuram: The Planning Board and the Finance Department are at loggerheads with each other over allocation to panchayats under the Annual Plan for 2006-07. The differences are with regard to devolution of funds under the Tribal Sub-plan and the Special Component Plan for Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC), respectively.

If the Finance Department has its way, then, the outlay for these plans will be lesser by Rs. 150 crores in the coming budget. The Planning Board insists that funds be earmarked for them from the Rs.1,400 crores that the panchayats are to get under the Annual Plan of Rs. 6,210 crores. The Board has earmarked the Plan allocation for panchayats according to recommendations of the State Finance Commission.

In a letter to Minister for Finance Vakkom B. Purushothaman, Board Vice-Chairman C.V. Padmarajan says that 12 per cent allocation under the Tribal Sub-plan (2 per cent) and the Special Component Plan (10 per cent) is mandatory, according to Planning Commission norms. The Board's recommendations means, in effect, that panchayats will get Rs. 490 crores under the two schemes. Mr. Padmarajan points out that the State cannot deviate from the commission's norms. Besides, reducing the allocation for the two plans when the Assembly election is round the corner will be politically costly, he adds.

The Finance Department (and the Local Administration Department), however, has a different view. It is opposed to the Board's recommendation, citing a resource crunch. Besides, the department says, the commitments under the two plans will have to be met by lowering the general-purpose allocation for panchayats.

The Local Administration Department is apprehensive that it will have to meet the commitment from its own budgetary allocation.

In addition, the Local Administration Department is seeking a separate allocation of Rs. 125 crores that it claims is due to it under the 12th Finance Commission's award for decentralised administration. It is now pressuring the Finance Department not to club it with the general budgetary allocation.

The funds under the Tribal Sub-plan and the Special Component Plan are allocated according to the State Finance Commission's formula based on population. Panchayats that do not have a large SC/ST population will stand to lose under this arrangement, Finance Department sources say.

The worst part of the ongoing tussle is that the Cabinet has not yet considered and approved the 3rd State Finance Commission's report. It has to be placed in the Assembly, along with an action taken report.

A senior Planning Board official said it had, nevertheless, reckoned the commission's recommendation on budgetary allocation for local bodies, irrespective of whether the final approval was available. He said the departments concerned were free to take their own decisions, but the onus was on them to find the extra resources.

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