Congress plans multi-million schemes to woo dalit voters

NEW DELHI: In the run-up to the general elections, the Centre is readying to roll out a welfare measure for the dalits. It has set aside Rs 700 crore under the flagship Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY) to house more than one lakh families of manual scavengers, most of whom are dalits.

The rural development ministry is planning to use about 5% of the annual allocation under the scheme, which is aimed at providing housing to poor people in rural areas, exclusively for the families of manual scavengers over the next one year.

“The ministry plans to give special priority to rehabilitation of manual scavengers, mainly dalits, by utilising 5% of the allocation under IAY for special projects providing houses to them,” a senior government official told ET on the condition of anonymity.

According to the 2011 census, there are 750,000 families employed as manual scavengers, mostly in UP, Rajasthan, Bihar, MP, Gujarat and J&K. The move to dedicate the entire special project fund under the IAY for rehabilitation of manual scavengers is in sync with the government’s strategy to woo this section of the society as the country goes to the polls.

Earlier, in September, Parliament had given its go-ahead to the bill seeking to prohibit employment of individuals as manual scavengers.