The state council approves the SC and ST sub-plans for the year 2013-2014.
The second meeting of the state council for the development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, which met under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today, approved SC sub-plan (SCSP) proposals worth Rs. 8429.67 cr and ST sub-plan (STSP) proposals worth Rs. 5503.08 cr for 2013-14. This pertains to 43 departments under tbe ST sub-plan, and 26 departments under the SC sub-plan.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to frame guidelines, and to issue administrative sanctions and GOs at the earliest (by the end of the month, if possible). He also wanted that work on the plans should be completed on a "mission" mode with evenly spaced milestones.
The work that needs to be done is related to different departments under the aegis of the state government, including Social Welfare, Rural Development, Housing, Agriculture, the Rajiv Vidya Mission, SERP, TRANSCO, Health and Family Welfare, School Education, Horticulture, Industries, Panchayat Raj, Animal Husbandry and Transport, and so n.
The meeting was attended by ministers Pithani Satyanarayana, P Balaraju, Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, M Maheedhar Reddy, S Vijayarama Raju, Sunitha Laxma Reddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy, Sailajanath, Kodru Murali and Manikya Varaprasad; Chief Secretary P K Mohanty, Special Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries, Secretaries and other all top officials.
The Chief Minister directed that a Group I Officer should be appointed in each district to constantly monitor and supervise the completion of the programs on schedule. He also wanted that monitoring committees be constituted immediately.
Kiran Kumar Reddy also stressed on the need for an effective structure to ensure the speedy implementation of all the proposals. He said that it is high time that the poorest of the poor be given priority, and that they be issued ration cards without delay.
Regarding the matter of construction of houses for SCs and STs, he proposed that one activist could be appointed to oversee the construction of houses.
He also wanted correct data to be collected about the SCs and STs in the state, and cited the need for a comprehensive database to be created in this regard.
Reddy said that evaluation of the works should be done by a third party. The CM asked the officials to take up construction of individual toilets on top priority.
He added the case of the Chenchus and the Yanadis (indigenous tribes in Andhra Pradesh) should also be taken up in the development programs.
Officials said that analysis of the "Poorest of Poor" survey, that was conducted amongst 9.8 lakh families in 619 mandals, by the SERP is being utilised. As per the 2011 census, there are 36,71,634 SC households, 15,60,035 ST households in the state.
Officials said that rules have been drafted by the Tribal Welfare department for ST & SP. A committee is to be constituted with Tribal Welfare, Social Welfare, Finance, Planning departments and CESS as its main concerns, for the state council's approval. (INN)