A Mysuru seminar on Sunday called for funds reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to be allocated across four priority sectors, including housing and infrastructure, instead of being distributed across 39 departments.
The demand was raised by the SCSP and TSP Reserved Funds Proper Utilisation Movement-Karnataka at a divisional-level seminar held at the Maharaja College grounds in Mysuru. Research scholar Naveen Koluru presented the proposal, which was approved by participants at the meeting.
Under the proposed framework, 40% of the funds would be allocated to education and employment generation, 10% to healthcare, 25% to housing and infrastructure, and the remaining 25% to economic development programmes. The group urged the government to adopt this four-sector allocation pattern in line with the recommendations cited at the seminar.
The participants also demanded the removal of provisions that allow the reserved funds to be diverted to other purposes or used for general schemes. They called for a comprehensive review and amendment of the legislation governing the funds, along with an increase in the reservation percentage for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The demands place housing and infrastructure alongside education, healthcare and economic development as core areas for targeted public spending. The proposal did not provide a project-wise list, funding estimate or implementation timeline for the housing and infrastructure allocation. No government response to the demands was reported at the seminar.
Sanitation workers and urban services were another focus of the meeting. Participants called for manual scavenging to be prevented through the use of technical equipment, and for investment in technologies that can support mechanised sanitation work. They also demanded permanent employment for all civic workers and a long-term health protection plan covering their service years and the period after retirement.
The seminar further sought fully free education from primary school through higher education for the children of civic workers. Participants resolved to expand the public movement to the taluk level to build awareness and press for a new policy on the utilisation of SCSP and TSP funds.
Two books, titled ‘SCSP and TSP: Economic Deprivation in the Name of Social Justice?!’ and ‘SCSP and TSP People’s Manifesto’, were released at the event by Premkumar, a retired zilla panchayat deputy secretary. Former ministers N. Mahesh and M. Shivanna, former legislator M. Ashwina Kumar and representatives of organisations working with Dalit, tribal, student, industrial and civic-worker communities attended the seminar.
