NDA Govt. reiterates its commitment to welfare of scheduled castes and tribes

The Central Government on Thursday said that it is committed to the welfare of the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), and added that this year, an amount of Rs 50,548 crore is proposed under the SC Plan and Rs 32, 387 crore under ST plan.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, while presenting his maiden budget, in the Lok Sabha today, said that to provide credit enhancement facility for young start up entrepreneurs from Scheduled Castes, who aspire to be part of the neo-middle class, a sum of Rs 200 crore will be opertionalised through a scheme by IFCI. For the welfare of the tribals "Van Bandhu Kalyan yojana" is being launched with an initial allocation of Rs 100 crore. Jaitley has announced a sum of Rs 100 crores for modernization of Madarsas.

Jaitley said that NDA Government during its last term in office had introduced the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) as a pension scheme for senior citizens. Under the scheme a total no. of 3.16 lakh annuitants are being benefitted and the corpus amounts to Rs 6,095 crore. The Finance Minister proposed to revive the scheme for a limited period from 15 August 2014 to 14, August, 2015 for the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and above.

He also proposed to set-up a committee to examine and recommend the use of unclaimed amounts with PPF, Post Office, saving schemes etc for the benefit of senior citizens.

Jaitley said that the government is fully committed to the social security and welfare of employees serving in the organized sector. It is notifying minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month to all subscriber members of EP Scheme and has made an initial provision of Rs 250 crore in the current financial year to meet the expenditure.

Further, increase in mandatory wage ceiling of subscription to EPS from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000 has been made and a provision of Rs 250 crore has been provided in the current budget. For the convenience of the subscribers, EPFO will launch the "Uniform Account Number" Service for contributing members to facilitate portability of Provident Fund accounts.

The Finance Minister also said that the Government will make all out efforts to create a more inclusive society for Persons with Disabilities to enable them to enjoy equal opportunity to lead an empowered life with dignity. He also proposed to establish National level institutes for Universal Inclusive Design and Mental Health Rehabilitation and also a Centre for Disability Sports.

Earlier today, Jaitley presented his maiden General Budget for the year 2014-15 with the permission of Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan at 11 a.m.