Are India's SCs, OBCs really getting benefits? Modi government will find out soon

NEW DELHI: The Modi government has initiated a stock-taking exercise for all social justice schemes to gauge whether the crores of rupees being spent are really benefitting the scheduled castes and other backward classes.

The Centre plans to recast social sector schemes to improve their efficiency.

The ministry of social justice and empowerment is in the process of commissioning studies for six big-ticket schemes, including post-matric scholarship for OBCs and SCs, self-employment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers, Venture Capital Fund for SC entrepreneurs, functioning of old-age homes, daycare centres and integrated rehabilitation centres for drug addicts, effectiveness and impact of activities of National Institute of Social Defence in the field of drug abuse prevention and old-age care, Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhattravas Yojana and construction of hostels for OBC girls and boys.

The focus of the exercise is outcome of the schemes.

“We are studying the various schemes to examine their efficacy. This would help understand why certain problems are still plaguing us,” social justice and empowerment secretary GLK Rao told ET. “Take, for instance, dropout rates of girls belonging to scheduled castes. We would like to find out if the scholarship schemes have improved the dropout rate, or by recasting a scheme can we help them better.”

The government is trying to address concerns like school dropout rates, especially among SC and OBC girls, fewer SC students reaching class X and opting for higher studies, less number of SC and OBC youth qualifying for foreign universities, relapse in drug addiction, and status of facilities in government-run hostels.

“Once we find out if the government schemes are really beneficial for the poorest of the poor, whether we are spending money in the right direction, once we know if the money is being spent in the right direction or not, we would be able to address issues,” said Rao.

In 2015-16, pre-matric scholarships for classes IX and X SC students were given to 2.445 million beneficiaries, with the Centre spending Rs 525 crore. The allocation has been steadily increasing. However, data clearly reflects a gap as many spots for National Overseas Scholarships have remained unfilled and have been carried forward.

ET View: An exercise overdue
There have been many announcements and schemes by successive governments targeted at SCs, STs, and OBCs, but there has been little by way of an impact assessment of the benefits of these schemes. Often, the gains have been cornered by a section of the community thereby defeating its purpose. Such an assessment will help ensure that the benefits of the programmes reach those who need them most.