1. Scheduled Castes
   1. Scholarships: Higher Education (SC+ST)
   2. Protection of Civil Rights
   3. Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY)
   4. Manual Scavenging
   5. 11^th FYP: SC welfare
   6. 12^th FYP: SC welfare goals/targets
2. Scheduled Tribes
   1. Constitutional provisions
   2. States without ST communities
   3. PESA 1996
   4. PESA: problems?
   5. Forest Rights Act 2006
   6. Ashram Schools
   7. 12^th FYP: ST welfare
   8. Funding for ST welfare
3. Other Backward Classes
   1. Constitutional provisions
   2. OBC reservation in promotion
   3. Creamy Layer
   4. 12^th FYP: OBC welfare
4. Minorities
   1. Minorities: Schemes
   2. Scholarship: minorities
   3. 12^th FYP: Minority welfare
5. Bodies: Constitutional vs Statutory
6. Financing/funding/marketing
   1. NSDFC
   2. NSTFDC
   3. NMDFC
   4. NSKFDC
   5. NHFDC
   6. SCDC
   7. TRIFED
   8. RMK

In this part, we’ll see welfare schemes related to SC, ST, OBC and minorities +12^th FYP targets. A related topic Socio-Economic Caste census (SECC-2011) was already done in earlier article, click me

Scheduled Castes

Census year	% of SC in total population
2001	16.2
2011	16.9

• People belonging to SC communities, by and large, are spread all over the country, with about 80 per cent of them living in the rural areas.
• Half of the SC population is concentrated in the five States of
  1. UP
  2. WB
  3. TN
  4. Andhra
  5. Bihar

Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme	From 2012. To decrease the dropout rate in the transition from elementary to secondary stage. given For class 9 and 10 12th FYP wants this scholarship from class 1 to 8 also.
Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana	for SC boys and girls in middle school, higher secondary schools, colleges and universities. 12th FYP wants to improve quality  of hostels + more residential schools in blocks with high SC concentration

Scholarships: Higher Education (SC+ST)

Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship Scheme	providing financial assistance to SC and ST students pursuing MPhil and PhD courses. 12th FYP wants to increase # of seats.
National Overseas Scholarship Scheme	Financial support to SC and ST students pursuing Master’s level courses and PhD/Post-Doctoral courses abroad. 12th FYP wants to increase # of seats without any restriction on field of study.
Post metric Scholarship for SC, ST	covers professional, technical, professional, non-professional, even correspondence /distance education courses. 12th FYP wants Government to provide them laptop/tablet also- for those students who get good marks in class 10/12.
Top Class Education	eligible students who secure admission in notified institutions like the IITs, IIMs, and NITs, are provided full financial support for meeting the requirements of tuition fees, living expenses, books, and computers
Free coaching	for recruitment in UPSC, SSC, Railways, State PSCs, Officer’s grade exams in RBI PSUs etc. for SC, ST, Minorities 12th FYP wants free coaching for Premier Entrance Exams to professional institutions like IITs, JEE, AIEEE, CPMT, CLAT, CAT etc.

Protection of Civil Rights

Two acts implemented by Ministry of social Justice and empowerment

#1: protection of Civil Rights act	#2: prevention of atrocities act (for SC and ST)
1955	1989
Extends to whole India	Whole India minus J&K
Punishment for practice of untouchability	Preventing offenses by persons other er than SC and ST, to ST/ST victims + relief, rehabilitation.

Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY)

• launched in March 2010 as a pilot scheme for inte-grated development of 1000 SC majority villages
• The scheme is presently being implemented in five States viz. Assam (100 villages), Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu (225 villages each).

Manual Scavenging

• National Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers (NSLRMS) has been in operation since 1992.
• Towards rehabilitating the manual scavengers and dependents
• The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012’, has been introduced in the Parliament.
• Survey of Manual Scavengers in the rural areas is underway as a part of the Socio-economic Caste Census (Rural).

11^th FYP: SC welfare

Earlier the 11^th  Five Year Plan (2007–12) adopted a three pronged strategy:

Strategy	How?
Social Empowerment	top priority assigned to education
Economic Empowerment	via promoting employment-cum-income generation activities
Social Justice	to eliminate all types of discrimination via legislative support, affirmative action, awareness generation and change in the mind-set of the people.

12^th FYP: SC welfare goals/targets

1. security and dignity of all SCs especially women
2. Complete end to all forms of ‘untouchability’ and discrimination against them.
3. To bring SC men and women at par with their non-SC/ST counterparts regarding education, health, nutrition, housing, income generation and employability.
4. empower SCs to participate in society and in nation-building, on an equal basis with others
5. Distribute surplus government land to landless SC agricultural labourers in the rural areas.
6. TRIFED like organization marketing products of SC entrepreneurs/artisans.

Scheduled Tribes

Constitutional provisions

Art	Sch	What?
244/1	5th	Scheduled areas Other than AMTM
244/2	6th	Scheduled areas in AMTM (Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram)
342	–	Procedure to be followed for specification of STs. There are over 700 ST notified under this article. There are 75 identified PVTGs  (primitive tribal groups) spread across 17 States/UTs.
366		Definition of STs

States without ST communities

• Haryana
• Punjab
• UT of Delhi, Chandigarh and Pondicherry

PESA 1996

Art	What?
243M	that nothing in Part IX of the Constitution relating to Panchayat shall apply to Fifth Schedule areas= in the 9 States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan.
243(4)B	Parliament may, by law extend the provisions of this Part to the Scheduled Areas.

• subsequently done in 1996 Parliament enacted ‘The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (=PESA).
• PESA has been very poorly implemented across the nine States.

PESA: problems?

• Absence of a proper administrative definition of the village that is in consonance with the Act.
• All States, without exception, have continued with their earlier revenue definitions of the village. Thereby, not only does a village at times consist of 10–12 scattered hamlets, but several revenue villages are clubbed together to form a Gram Panchayat.
• Success of PESA hinges crucially on the effective functioning of the Gram Sabha.
• Today, even in tribal areas, there is no automaticity to the functioning of the Gram Sabha and there is a large measure of exclusion of women.
• The LWE districts extend across significant parts of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, leading to the term, ‘The Red Corridor’.
• While the senior leadership of the party is mostly drawn from non-tribal communities, much of the rank and file comes from local villages and has built on their grievances emanating from the non-implementation of PESA

Forest Rights Act 2006

• full name Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
• The Act recognises and vests individual forest-dwellers with forest rights to live in and cultivate forest land that was occupied before 13 Dec 2005.

Rights such as

1. right to live in forest
2. right to self-cultivation for livelihood
3. community right to use minor forest produce, grazing, fish and other products of water bodies,
4. Right to in situ rehabilitation including alternative land in cases where they have been illegally evicted or displaced
5. Right to protect, regenerate or conserve or manage any community forest resources  (although this sounds more like a ‘duty’ than ‘right’!)

Ashram Schools

• Ashram Schools provide education with residential schooling to ST boys and girls.
• State Governments are eligible for 100 per cent Central Share for construction of Girls’ Ashram Schools and also for construction of Boys’ Ashram Schools in naxal areas.
• For the other Boys’ Ashram Schools, the funding to State Government is on 50:50 basis.
• 12^th FYP wants 100% central funding for ST hostels in all areas

12^th FYP: ST welfare

• clear cut personnel policy with regard to posting of officials in tribal areas: fixed tenure and incentives.
• No post in the implementing agencies in scheduled areas/areas with tribal majority should be left vacant;
• Better connectivity through railways in naxal affected area and tribal areas.
• Converge MGNREGA with artisanal work to provide livelihood to tribals, many of whom are engaged in artisanal work.
• Land and Tenancy Reform: Deal with outstanding matters of tribal ownership.
• Better and speedy implementation of PESA and FRA Institutional Mechanism of Conflict Resolutions

Education	A special problem is that the STs use a language which is typically different from that of the State and this hampers their ability to do well in the educational system. Hence Qualified teachers belonging to the local tribal communities should be trained and placed in position as teachers in Ashram Schools. need to expand schools and hostels for ST boys n girls.
Scholarship	Govt. should directly pay college fees of ST students. The fee should be paid promptly during the academic year so as to avoid any harassment to ST students
Health	Increase cadre of health workers to better serve tribals traditional healers can be trained and be entrusted with the responsibility of treating the people. All tribal habitations should be provided with safe drinking water supply sources and sanitation facilities by the end of the Twelfth Plan period. Frequent immunisation campaigns may be taken up at regular intervals in tribal areas awareness programs for gender bias and wrong customary practices early child-bearing, smoking, drug-addiction, alcohol, unsafe sex etc.
Nutrition	prevent the problem of malnutrition, local cereals, along with pulses and oils in adequate quantity should be ensured to the tribal families
Income	One of the reasons as to why tribal communities are not economically advanced in spite of their land holdings is that they have no skill in business. hence Efforts need to be made to encourage tribal entrepreneurship encourage Export of tribal handicrafts
MNREGA	Limit of providing maximum 100 days employment to a household in a given financial year under NREGA should be removed, as in tribal areas work of agriculture labour is available only for a period of 2-3 months during the year.
Protection	Effective implementation of all legal provisions such as the Juvenile Justice Act (JJ) Act, Bonded Labour Abolition Act and Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act, SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act (POA), Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA). A District Level Committee of credible (not jholachhap) NGOs/Advocates and other stakeholders should be constituted to monitor and support these initiatives

Funding for ST welfare

Schedule Caste Sub Plan (SCSP)	to channelise funds and benefits through identified schemes, for which the States/UTs and Union Ministries have to earmark funds in proportion to the SC population in the State/UTs and the country respectively.
Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP)	For development of tribal areas.TSP has set the twin objectives: (i) socio-economic development of STs; and (ii) protection of tribals against exploitation.
Special Central Assistance (SCA) to SCSP and TSP	extends financial assistance to States/UTs as an additive to their SCSP and TSP programmes.

Other Backward Classes

Constitutional provisions

Art	What?
15	Constitution empowers the States to make any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes
16(4)	empowers the State to make provisions for reservations in appointments in favour of any backward class of citizens which in the opinion of the States is not adequately representative in the services under the State.
46 (DPSP)	The State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people and, in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation
340	State to appoint a Commission to investigate into the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes

OBC reservation in promotion

• In the existing system, SC, ST, OBC get reservation in recruitment
• But in case of promotion, only SC and ST get reservation (15% and 7.5% respectively), but OBCs don’t get reservation benefits in promotion. Why?

1995	Indira Sawhney judgment. Supreme court said Mandal Commission’s recommendations are legit but promotion quota for all categories — dalits, tribals and OBCs  are unconstitutional. So, to protect SC/ST promotion quota, government amended the Constitution to insert Clause (4A). But government had not included OBCs in that amendment.
2006	M.Nagraj case, Supreme court says, Constitutional amendment is legit but before framing any law to implement it, the Government will have to satisfy the test of backwardness of particular SC/ST group inadequate representation of that SC/ST group efficiency of administration
2012	Supreme court struck down UP Government’s rules for seniority because UP state government had not done those tests. Therefore, Union Government decided to amend the Constitution (117th Amendment) so that 3-test exercise (desired by SC) becomes unnecessary. 117th Amendment bill was introduced to amend Art 16 (4A): All the SC/ST shall be deemed backward. Passed in Rajya Sabha but lot of uproar.

Creamy Layer

• Few days back Government upgraded the non-creamy layer income limit from 4.5 lakh to 6 lakh.
• Those who’re new to competitive exams: please keep in mind following things (because some new players make mistake in application form and then UPSC rejects them after mains/interview stage.)
• first thing: To claim OBC-reservation benefits you need two certificates

OBC caste certificate	OBC caste-list differs from State to State. some castes may be backward in state “A” but not backward in state “B”. The backward caste list for State and centre is different. Some castes may be backward for the given state but still not included in central “OBC”. To claim reservation in UPSC, IIMs etc. all India exams, Your caste must be included in the central “OBC” list.
Non-creamy layer certificate	this has validity for one year

For the purpose of UPSC, Creamy layer candidate has to tick general category in the application form. Hence he gets only 4 attempts and max 30 years age limit like general category candidates. Click on the following screenshot of online application of UPSC.

second thing: OBC non-creamy layer status depends on your parents and *not* your own income/salary.

• The income criteria: 4.5 lakh or 6 lakh or whatever – It doesn’t apply if your parent(s) are in Government/PSU service.
• For children of Government employees, usually the situation is your dad is in Government service, and mom is housewife. In that case, if your dad did not become class1 officer before the age of 40, then you’re non-creamy layer and eligible for reservation– even if his salary is above 4.5 or 6 lakhs due to pay Commission and seniority.
• for more on creamy layer criteria, study these things
  1. PDF file prepared by obcguru click me
  2. Tamilnadu Government’s instruction to all district collectors click me
• for any doubts, difficulties, contact the owner of obcguru.com, Mr. SHAILENDRA WAGADRE email id:  skwagadre@gmail.com

12^th FYP: OBC welfare

• Pre-Matric Scholarship and Post-Matric Scholarship are being given to OBCs in 11^th FYP but they’re ineligible for National Overseas Scholarship Scheme and Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship (RGNF).
• 12^th FYP aims to extend those schemes to OBCs as well.
• TRIFED like organization to provide a marketing platform for OBC artisans and handicraft persons.

Minorities

• Five communities–Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Parsis- notified as minority communities.
• They constitute ~19 per cent of the total population of the country.
• These communities may actually be a ‘majority’ in some States for example

Community	Forms majority in
Muslims	Lakshadweep  (UT) Jammu and Kashmir
Christians	Nagaland Mizoram Meghalaya
Sikhs	Punjab

Minorities: Schemes

• Until the Eleventh Five Year Plan, there were no substantive developmental programmes specifically attending to the minorities. The programs implemented during the Eleventh Five Year Plan, have been in operation for too short a period and it is too early to estimate their impact.

• PM’s 15 point program = already covered click me
• Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) already covered click me

Scholarship: minorities

Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme	Self explanatory.
Post-matric Scholarship Scheme	from Class XI right upto PhD level.
Merit-cum-Means Based Scholarship Scheme	for technical and professional courses at the UG and PG level
Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority Students	to provide integrated five year fellowships to pursue M. Phil. and Ph. D. in the Universities and institutions recognised by UGC.

12^th FYP: Minority welfare

1. literacy rate of religious minorities should be increased as quickly as possible to be at par with the national average.
2. participation of religious minorities in graduate and post graduate studies should be proportionate to their population (2011)
3. IMR, MMR, Institutional Deliveries, Child Immunisation and Vaccination of religious minorities should be brought at par with the national average.
4. Work participation rate of religious minorities in the organised sector should be increased to be at par with other communities.
5. Representation of religious minorities in all forms of Government employment should be increased in proportion to their population
6. Share of total number and total amount of bank loans given to all religious minorities, with special focus on Muslims.
7. 100 per cent financial inclusion for religious minorities
8. More public sector bank branches will be opened in minority concentration districts
9. Special programmes for providing education along with skill and vocational training in the minority concentrated towns will be initiated

Bodies: Constitutional vs Statutory

following list is not exhaustive, we are only looking at bodies dealing with SC, ST, OBC, PH, Women and minorities.

Constitutional	Statutory
National commission for SC National commission for ST	National Commissions for Safai Karmacharis Backward classes Women Minorities protection of child rights human rights
Commissioner/special officer for linguistic minorities.	Rehabilitation council of India (for disabled) Chief Commissioner for persons with disabilities.
	Central Wakf Council

Financing/funding/marketing

NSDFC	national scheduled caste finance and development Corporation under the Ministry of social Justice and empowerment provides loans to SC living below double the poverty line limits, (Rs.40,000 per annum for rural areas and 55,000 per annum for urban areas) loans given for income generating activities
NSTFDC	national Scheduled Tribes finance and development Corporation provides loans to ST living below double the poverty line limits, under Tribal ministry.
NMDFC	national Minorities Development and Finance Corporation provides loans to Minorities living below double the poverty line limits,
NSKFDC	National Safai Karmacharis financing development Corporation loans to Safai Karmacharis, scavengers and their dependents. For income generating activities no income limit for getting loans. 12th FYP wants NSKFDC should assist at least one lakh beneficiaries.
NHFDC	national handicapped finance and development Corporation for economic Development + education + upgradation of technical skills.
SCDC	State Scheduled Castes Development Corporation (SCDC) equity ratio of 49:51 (49 per cent by MSJE and 51 per cent by the respective State Governments). finance employment-oriented schemes and cover agriculture and allied activities including minor irrigation; small scale industry; transport and trade and services
TRIFED	Tribal cooperative marketing development federation of India “TRIBES India”= its own shops for marketing natural and organic products, handicrafts etc.
RMK	Rashtriya Mahila Kosh To provide collateral free microcredit to poor women at concessional interest rate for income generating activities

Mock questions after third part.
for more on economy, visit Mrunal.org/economy