Budget 2017: FM Arun Jaitley announces increased funding for scheduled castes
The government increased the funds allocated for scheduled castes by a third in its Union budget presentation on Wednesday, a move that might help the BJP in upcoming assembly elections in five states.
The government increased the funds allocated for scheduled castes by a third in its Union budget presentation on Wednesday, a move that might help the BJP in upcoming assembly elections in five states.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley tabling the Union Budget for 2017-18 in the Parliament in New Delhi on Wednesday. (PTI)
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Finance minister Arun Jaitley announced a spike in the allocation for Dalits up from Rs 38,800 crore to Rs 52,000 crore and said many new enterprises had been set up under the Stand Up India programme, aimed at helping women, Dalit and tribal entrepreneurs.
The increased allocation might help the BJP in state polls that begin from February 4, especially in Punjab – where Dalits make up a third of the population – and in crucial Uttar Pradesh, where scheduled castes can make a difference in at least 100 seats.
The party has long been seen as hostile to Dalits and faced protests last year after the death of Hyderabad PhD student Rohith Vemula and the flogging of four scheduled caste men in Gujarat’s Una by alleged cow vigilantes.
Dhrubo Jyoti is Deputy Executive Editor at Hindustan Times, where they help oversee the newspaper’s daily news and opinion coverage. They are part of the leadership team of the newspaper and their daily responsibilities include news selection, commissioning and editing, apart from planning and executing special projects. Apart from this, they write on national affairs at the intersection of caste and sexuality, with a focus on elections, politics and the lifeworlds of the caste marginalised. Formally trained in physics from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and Bose Institute, Kolkata, they made a switch to studying journalism from the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai. Over the past decade at Hindustan Times, they have worked at the National Desk, Page 1 team, Integrated Copy Desk and Special Stories Team, before running the opinion page as views editor for two years, and then moving back as Senior Editor of News Operations. In the past 12 years, they have reported on numerous national and state elections, specialising on caste-informed coverage of major moments in India’s history, and focussing on leading investigations into government accountability and social inequities. Their narrative non-fiction work aims to put Dalit voices at the core of India’s LGBTQIA+ movements.
