The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Funds spent on Dalit welfare without seeking caste proof

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Saturday, Aug 23, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Funds spent on Dalit welfare without seeking caste proof

Bageshree S.

Bangalore: Eighteen per cent of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) budget is allocated exclusively for the welfare of people belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. But how exactly this money gets spent is a question even BBMP cannot always answer, as a Right to Information application has revealed.

Over the years, the BBMP has spent a portion of the 18 per cent reserved allocation — through various departments such as the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board (KSCB), Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) — without asking the beneficiaries for caste certificates. Following an RTI application by M. Venkatesh of Dalit Bahujan Samaj, the BBMP and the departments through which the money was spent are clamouring for proof of caste, in some cases after a lapse of four years.

For example, initial deposit grant was given to build houses in K.G. Byadrahalli slum under Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) of the Centre. The money was routed through KSCB in 2004-05 without asking for proof of caste of the beneficiaries.

However, the process of looking for documents was initiated four years later, after Mr. Venkatesh filed an RTI application earlier this year seeking information on how money allocated for SC/ST welfare was being utilised. KSBC, at the insistence of BBMP, started issuing notices to the beneficiaries, who had built houses and moved into them, to provide caste certificates.

The information gathered through RTI reveals that electricity provided to these houses under the Bhagya Jyothi scheme was also done without any proof of caste, as the information provided by Bescom clearly states that the company is “not in possession of the beneficiaries’ caste certificates”.

“Some of these beneficiaries may belong to Dalit communities and some may not,” says Mr. Venkatesh. “But the question is how the beneficiaries were identified in the first place without even a caste certificate.” He adds that the same Welfare Department within BBMP asks for income certificates, caste certificates, address proof and a host of other documents for those who apply for loans or to enrol for courses under the self-employment schemes.

A circular issued by BBMP in 2006 clearly states that the money allocated for SC/ST welfare “cannot be diverted”. But as this case illustrated, there is no dearth of violations of the rule.

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