Mayawati blocks rural plan to keep dalits in fold

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To prevent the Congress from taking any credit, Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati has blocked the Centre’s move to get the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojna (PMAGY), meant for over 50 per cent Scheduled Caste population villages, implemented in the state.

Also, playing her electoral card, she has ensured over 50 per cent dalit participation in National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) schemes in the state in the past four years.

The national average for dalit participation in the flagship scheme is just 30 per cent. With Uttar Pradesh having the country’s largest SC population, officials see political compulsions in the state’s decision to not send any proposal for PMAGY.

Senior Uttar Pradesh officials said, however, that the state has a better alternative, in which Rs 1 crore is spent for the all-round development of a village having a sizeable dalit population.

The PMAGY too targets holistic development of such villages, but under it expenditure is capped at `10 lakhs.

“Why would the BSP government allow the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre take credit for having ushered in development in dalit villages,” a senior member of Ms Mayawati’s party asked.