Telangana gets zero funds from Centre for tribals

Hyderabad: The Central government’s tall claims about extending assistance for the socio-economic development of tribals fall flat when it comes to Telangana, with zero allocations made to the State in 2021-22.

Shockingly, the Centre did not even release grants mandated under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution, among other schemes. According to the information tabled by union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the Centre was implementing 12 schemes for tribal welfare under which funds are released to States. But it had gradually decreased the allocation of funds to Telangana under these schemes over the last five years and did not release a single rupee for some of these schemes in the last couple of years.

Under Article 275 (1) of the Constitution, the Centre is mandated to release cent per cent annual grant to States from the consolidated Fund of India which is an additive to State initiatives and efforts for tribal development. The Centre, which sanctioned Rs 50.15 crore in 2017-18, cut the funding to a meagre Rs 25.17 crore in 2020-21 and did not release any grants in 2021-22.

In total neglect of tribal students, the union government did not release any funds for Telangana for pre-matric scholarships over the last three fiscals (from 2019-20 to 2021-22). Funds for post-metric scholarships were reduced from Rs 180.31 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 75.03 crore in 2021-22. Such meagre allocations were made at a time when nationwide allocations for post-metric scholarships increased from Rs 1,463.86 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 2,256.81 crore in 2021-22.

Similarly, funds sanctioned under the Pradhan Mantri Adi Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAAGY) was reduced to half from Rs 44.93 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 22.62 crore in 2021-22. For the development of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), the funds increased marginally from Rs 7.78 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 11.93 crore in 2021-22.