Govt of India Initiated Measures to Economically Empower the SC and ST

Government of India has decided to commemorate the current financial year as the Year of Economic Empowerment for SC/ST entrepreneurs. Rs. 500 crore has been allotted in the budget under Stand Up India scheme in order to promote entrepreneurship among SC/ST and women. This Scheme will facilitate at least two such projects per bank branch, one for each category of entrepreneur. This will benefit at least 2.5 lakh entrepreneurs. The Government has also proposed to constitute a National Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Hub, in the MSME sector in partnership with industry associations for building an entrepreneurship eco- system among Dalits. This Hub will provide professional support to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs to fulfil the obligations under the Central Government procurement policy, adopt global best practices and leverage the Stand Up India initiative. In the budget 2016-17 significant increase has also been made in the allocation of SC Sub Plan. Rs. 38,832 crore has been allocated under this head, while in the last budget this allocation was only Rs. 30,000 crore.

Further, the press release states that the rehabilitation of all the scavengers with time bound action plan with the help of State Governments is in pipeline. 250 women from the family of Safai Karamcharis have gained form the commercial motor driving skills provided by the Ministry. Some women also started driving their own commercial vehicles after funding from National Safai Karamchari Finance Development Corporation.

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