The Cabinet on Sunday decided to give statutory backing to Dalit Bandhu programme of the government by enacting a legislation. The programme will be launched on a pilot basis in Huzurabad on August 16.
Just as a legislation was passed for SC Development Fund in the past and budget allotted for it with a provision that the balance of money will not lapse but carried forward to the next year, the Cabinet felt the need for a similar Act for Dalit Bandhu.
Speaking at the meeting, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said the economic backwardness of SCs was worse than STs with land holding of only 13 lakh acres throughout the State. Therefore, the government decided to empower SCs by sanctioning entrepreneurship units of ₹ 10 lakh each. There was no bank linkage to money sanctioned as it would amount to repayment burden to beneficiaries.
The government would train the beneficiaries in the chosen models of entrepreneurship. Centres for Dalit Enterprise would be set up in all districts to encourage SC entrepreneurs.
A release said the Cabinet resolved to set up a mechanism to continuously monitor the business enterprises of beneficiaries. It authorised the Principal Finance Secretary to identify surplus employees in all government departments to form a programme implementation team.
The Cabinet perused the model of an electronic card to be issued to beneficiaries to track the progress of businesses online.
