Why was Planning so important for the architect of India’s Constitution? And why is it that the Prime Minister still holds on to the chairmanship of the Planning Commission? Why is it that the best brains in India are sought to be brought into the Planning Commission to assist in the country’s development process? And why are the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes ignored and left out, even when its one-time member and present chairman, Dr. Manmohan Singh, remains?

India opted for a Five Year Plan development model. But the underlying ideology has seen a sea change from the ‘socialistic pattern’ of the 1950s to an ostentatiously pro-globalisation model today.

The Government of India Resolution of March 1950 defined the scope of the Planning Commission while stating that the Constitution has guaranteed certain Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. In particular, it stated that the “state shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political,” will be guaranteed, and ensure among other things “(a) that all citizens, men and women, have an adequate means of livelihood; (b) that ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to sub-serve the common good and (c) that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment.”

The August 1990 Report of the Working Group on the development of the Scheduled Castes during the Eighth Plan period reported that till 1979-80 the total amount of funds spent on the welfare of Dalits and tribals in 30 years was Rs.433.24 crore., which was an abysmal 0.476 per cent of the total Plan allocation. Similarly, in the Seventh Plan, out of a total expenditure of Rs.2,18,729 crore, a mere Rs.3,567 crore was spent on the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the backward classes — which was only 1.63 per cent of the total expenditure. The total outlays in the Eighth and Ninth Plans were Rs.7,266 crore and Rs.16,999 crore respectively for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the backward classes — falling to a pittance in real terms. The overall planning process since Independence has not set aside more than 2 per cent of the total Plan allocation on the welfare of the oppressed and the marginalised. No wonder that Dr. Ambedkar sought the Planning portfolio, and he did not get it.

During the budgeting process the opinions of the 22.5 per cent MPs belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes are never sought.

The MPs trudge to the Finance Minister, he gives them a nonchalant hearing. Invariably, there will be invariably no accretion to the resource allocation for the sake of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. The ‘begging’ MPs will not get to add a single paisa to the budgetary allocation.

The general attitude of the Finance Ministry was reflected in the context of a recent meeting called by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman on the 11th Plan. The Commission invited MPs belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes to seek their views on the Plan. To their dismay, the Deputy Chairman made them wait for more than an hour. The reason he gave was that another meeting had been scheduled. Then why were did he call the MPs, only to insult them — the way the planning process has insulted the poor Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population all these years? In fact, why were only the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe MPs called; why not MPs drawn on party lines? Is not the welfare of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes the concern of all political parties and the nation?

Interestingly, it was the short-lived United Front Government in 1996 that recognised the need for a sub-plan process for the tribal-dominated North-East and created a North-East sub plan with non-lapsable funds provided. It later evolved giving greater focus to the development of the North-East by creating a separate Ministry. Such interventions have become a rarity in the planning process.

With the forces of neo-liberalism and globalisation looming large and becoming deeply entrenched in the planning process, the development needs of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and the marginalised peoples are receiving scant attention, and in no time the country can face a deep crisis.

The creation of a separate Welfare Ministry (Social Justice and Empowerment) and a Tribal Affairs Ministry has not helped Dalits and tribals. These Ministries are treated with scant interest, as society would too. It will be a surprise to know that the planning process at the Centre for these groups has lagged far behind, since the budgetary allocations for the Dalits and tribals are higher in many States. When the Home Ministry dealt with the affairs of the Scheduled castes and the Scheduled Tribes directly, they received relatively better attention.

The planning and creation of the Special Component Plan (SCP) for the Scheduled Castes and the Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) for the Scheduled Tribes was an initiative of the Home Ministry. The new Ministry has added nothing new to the welfare of these marginalised groups. The Central Ministries often wriggle out the process of special planning for Dalits and tribals by arguing that their budgets are not divisible, although they are supposed to set aside 22.56 per cent of the quantum based on the population of the Scheduled castes and the Scheduled Tribes. In real terms, Dalits and tribals have lost the financial allocations. Unfortunately the same person who as Member-Secretary issued the guidelines for the SCP and the TSP, and who is now the Prime Minister and Chairman of the Planning Commission, seems to have the least interest in these groups in the post-liberalisation and the ongoing globalisation processes.

One way to ensure that they are not left out will be to place the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and the Ministry of Tribal Affairs under the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister holds the portfolio of Atomic Energy. The welfare of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes is an equally explosive issue that needs the direct attention of the head of the elected government. As the planning process leaves out the poor, the marginalised, and the socially oppressed, the forces of liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation will eat into the vitals, swallowing even the crumbs that are left out. It is time we realised this.

(The writer is national secretary, Communist Party of India, and a Member of Parliament.)

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