Contractual Preference to SC

The Ministry does not have any proposal to request the Ministry of Finance for amending GFR 142 & 144 give preference to SC contractors/suppliers in all kinds of Government supplies/ tenders/contracts etc

However, the new Public Procurement Policy of the Ministry of Small Micro & Medium Enterprises (MSME) notified on 23.3.2012, provides for the sub target of 20% for procurement from SC/ST entrepreneurs of the total 20% procurement from MSEs in phases. From1st April, 2015, overall procurement goal of minimum 20% from MSMEs owned by SC/ST entrepreneurs is to made mandatory.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Vijay Sampla in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha here today.

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All Round Development of SC Areas

The Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) was approved by the Government in 2010 for integrated development of 1000 Scheduled Castes (SCs)-majority villages.

The objective of the Scheme is to ensure all round, integrated development of the selected villages through provision of requisite physical (eg housing, electricity, roads, safe drinking water, sanitary toilets) and social (eg school, health care centres, aanganwadis, panchayat halls, etc) infrastructure.

The Scheme aims at the integrated development of the selected villages through

i) convergent implementation of existing Schemes of the Centre and State Governments, and

ii) through gap filling in the form of Central Assistance @ Rs 20 lakhs per village (with the States expected to provide a matching contribution), for meeting such requirements of the selected villages as cannot be met through convergent implementation of Central and State Schemes.

In the initial phase, the coverage of the Scheme was as follows:

S.No.	State	No. of villages
1	Assam	100
2.	Bihar	225
3.	Himachal Pradesh	225
4.	Rajasthan	225
5.	Tamil Nadu	225
Total		1000

In January, 2015 the scheme was approved for expansion to cover 1500 new SC majority villages across 10 new States, as follows:

Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Assam.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Vijay Sampla in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha here today.

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Diversion of SC Funds

As informed by NITI Aayog, the erstwhile Planning Commission has received a report regarding alleged diversion of Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) funds during 2010-11 by Govt. of NCT of Delhi, for Common Wealth Games. The Planning Commission took up the issue with the Government of NCT of Delhi and requested them to bring back the said amount. The Revised guidelines had also been issued by the Planning Commission on 18.06.2014 to all the States/UTs to strictly implement SCSP strategy and extend direct and quantifiable benefits to the Scheduled Castes.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has requested the GNCT of Delhi to provide the information regarding the diverted amount from the SCSP funds and the amount which has been brought back.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Vijay Sampla in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha here today.

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Review of CSSs

The review of Centrally Sponsored Schemes/ Central Sector schemes relating to the Welfare of SCs/OBCs/Senior Citizens/persons with disabilities etc. is an on-going process. The scheme of Grants-in-aid to Voluntary Organizations working for Scheduled Castes has been reviewed and revised with effect from 1.4.2014 by enhancing financial assistance by 100%. The cost norms in respect of the scheme of Integrated Programme for Older Persons (Senior Citizens) has also been revised w.e.f. 1.4.2015 and enhanced under different components ranging from 70 to 110%, which covers honorarium to staff, room rent, cost of medicines, food for running and maintenance of Old Age Homes, Day Care Centres, Mobile Medicare Units etc. Similarly, cost norms for the Central Scheme of Assistance for Prevention of Alcoholism and Drugs Abuse were revised w.e.f. 1.1.2015 and enhanced under different components ranging from 80 to 100% covering staff honorarium, room rent, cost of medicines and food for the inmates of the De-addiction Centres. The scheme of Assistance to Disabled persons for purchase/fitting of aids/appliance was also evaluated in December, 2012 following which it was revised w.e.f. 1.4.2014, to ensure better delivery of the scheme.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Vijay Sampla in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha here today.