Centre committed to protect interests of weaker sections: Athawale

The Centre is fully committed to protect the interests of the weaker section, physically challenged and SCs/STs in the country, Union minister Ramdas Athawale said today.
The minister of state (MoS) for social justice and empowerment was speaking after holding review meetings with senior officers of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and central government departments here, an official release said.
The Dalit leader said the special component plan (SCP) for Scheduled Castes has been increased to around Rs 56,600 crore in this year's Union budget compared to Rs 52,000 crore last year.
The government has organised over 7,000 camps for 'divyangs' (differently-abled people) for providing information and awareness in the country for their welfare. Moreover, nine lakh 'divyangs' have been provided with helping tools, Athawale said, according to the release.

On another issue, the minister said four cases of atrocities against SCs were reported in Chandigarh since 2015.
Earlier in the day, Athawale inaugurated a three-day trade fair -- 'Chandigarh Pragati Ka Maidan' -- at Sector-34 here.
About 100 exhibition-cum-sale stalls are put up by different departments, MSMEs, startups and women entrepreneurs from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and some other parts of the country.