In line with the existing tribal sub-plan, the Nati-onal Advisory Council led by Congress president Son-ia Gandhi has suggested that the government formulate a dalit (Scheduled Castes) sub-plan. To implement this, a NAC working paper proposes a well-designed dedicated institutional setup as well as a law to
monitor expenditure and outcome of schemes under the sub-plan.
In its working paper, a copy of which is available with this newspaper, the NAC wants the Planning Commission, beginning with the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17), to set aside a portion of Central and state Plan outlays equivalent to the proportion of the Scheduled Caste population at national and state levels.
“There is a need for a dedicated institutional setup at the Central and state levels (to) allocate SC sub-plan (SCSP) funds to ministries/departments ... so that ministries/departments can show clearly the schemes for development of SCs separately un-der a separate budget he-ad,” the NAC paper said.
The working group has also asked the Centre to pass an enabling law to monitor the expenditure and outcome of such schemes undertaken as part of a special Dalit Plan. “This will help track amounts spent and facilitate quantifying the outcome through social auditing,” it added.
The working group, co-chaired by Harsh Mander and Farah Naqvi, said: “The SCSP set apart is not meant to be parked with any ministry, but needs to be allocated to the ministries and departments for implementing schemes which directly benefit SC individual households or SC localities.”