Karnataka: Soothsayer Valmiki claims govt diverts welfare funds meant for SCs, STs

Prophet Valmiki Prasannananda Puri has accused the Karnataka government of misappropriating welfare funds meant for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) to implement the five guaranteed schemes.

“We will not hinder your welfare programmes. We will not oppose the stand of your government. The development of the country is the development of the people. The poor, SCs, STs and other backward classes (OBCs) must prosper,” the seer said in Chitradurga.

“To uplift them, you made promises in your manifesto and implemented them. We do not oppose it. We oppose misuse of funds earmarked in the budget for SCs and STs,” he added.

The five guarantee schemes, which were a key plank of the Congress’s election campaign ahead of last year’s assembly elections, were Shakti (free bus travel for women), Anna Bhagya (an additional five kilograms of rice for ration card holders), Gruha Lakshmi (monthly allowance for women heads of households), Gruha Jyothi (free electricity for households) and Yuva Nidhi (monthly unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 for graduates and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders).

Meanwhile, the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government is accused of misappropriating over Rs 14,000 crore of funds from SC and ST welfare schemes for “other purposes”.

The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has issued a notice to the Karnataka government over allegations that it is diverting funds from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Castes for implementing five guarantee schemes.

The notification came after reports of misuse of funds from Scheduled Caste Sub Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) programmes in the state emerged in the media.

In a notice to the Chief Secretary, the NCSC highlighted that the state government has decided to reallocate an amount of Rs 14,730 crore, originally earmarked under SCSP and TSP, for implementing various welfare schemes known as the ‘five guarantee schemes’.

In response to the NCSC notice, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said everything was being done as per the law and there was nothing wrong with it.

“We have made a law in the state that a certain amount of money will be spent on a particular community. There is nothing wrong in it. Earlier, Andhra Pradesh had made a similar law,” he said.