The State government has allocated a huge budget of Rs 17,700 crore for the implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme this year.
Presenting the annual budget in the Assembly today, Finance Minister T Harish Rao said that the revolutionary scheme was launched aimed at enabling dalits to develop economically through their own efforts and self-employment.
Dalits had been facing discrimination in society right since the independence of the country, and continued to remain in poverty, Rao said. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had designed the Dalit Bandhu scheme to enable them to develop economically with their own efforts and be self-employed, with the government extending financial support of Rs 10 lakh to each Dalit family as part of the scheme in a first-of-its-kind initiative in the entire country. And the assistance extended under Dalit Bandhu would not only enable the dalits to improve their financial position but also help in strengthening the State's economy through the collective investments, he claimed.
That was the reason that the government had allocated Rs 17,700 crore for the scheme this year, he said.
He added that the government was also providing reservation to dalits in profitable business activities which required licensing.
filed in:T Harish Rao, State Budget, Dalit Bandhu, Dalits