KVPS terms Budget 'anti-Dalit'

Vijayawada: Kulavivaksha Vyatireka Porata Sangham (KVPS) assailed the State government for deceiving Dalits by showing the sub-plan funds for the welfare and development of Dalits and spending the same on general schemes under YSR Navaratnalu scheme.

KVPS president Nallappa and general secretary Andra Malyadri in a statement here on Friday described the budget as anti-Dalit since it had not allocated funds on par with the population. The government had allocated funds to other corporations but not to Mala, Madiga and Relli corporations, which is nothing but deceiving the Dalits, they pointed out.

They deplored that the Centre had deceived the Dalits in its budget and now the state government had also done the same. The YSRCP government came to power after it pointed out the deceptions of the TDP government but it is doing the same thing now. "Dalits are treated as vote bank," they said.

The SC sub plan of Rs 13,834 crore was increased by 25 per cent this year to Rs 18,518 crore as per the budget statement. However, the expenditure had never crossed 80 per cent which means the allocation was only less than five percent. The Modi administration had allocated funds to the corporate sector instead of Dalits and the Jagan administration had also given top priority to other sectors not for Dalits.

Malyadri said that there had been no funds for Mala, Madiga and Relli corporations and not a single loan was sanctioned to anyone during the past three years. There was no provision for land purchase scheme for Dalits which is the key for their development and

no facility for the Dalit children to

study abroad.

Nallappa and Malyadri demanded allocation of Rs 25,000 crore for Dalit welfare. They also demanded a white paper on the funds allocated in the past and actual expenditure of the same.