 "dalits, women")
An all-party meeting has unanimously decided to send Rs 10 lakh financial assistance directly to the bank accounts of Dalit beneficiaries under the Chief Minister Dalit Empowerment Programme to the eligible beneficiaries to make them financially self-sufficient and enable independent decision making.
According to the Telangana Chief Minister's office, in the first phase, the assistance would be given to 100 families selected from each of the 119 Assembly Constituencies. For this, the all-party meeting under the chairmanship of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao decided to earmark Rs 1,200 crore for the Chief Minister Empowerment Programme and to give financial assistance directly to the bank accounts of the selected dalit beneficiaries to their bank accounts as was done in the case of Rythu Bandhu Scheme.
The all-party meeting felt that the proposed CM Dalit Empowerment Programme would bring in a qualitative change in the lives of beneficiaries and the programmes launched by the CM and his thoughts on "Dalits" have become a role model for the country. The meeting is of the opinion that the CM Dalit Empowerment Programme would further change the lives of beneficiaries for the better. The CM said that the all-party meeting was convened to make them stakeholders to stand unitedly by the Dalits, remove their inferiority and bring in a qualitative change in their thought process and attitude.
On Sunday, under CM K Chandrashekhar Rao chairmanship an all-party meeting was held at Pragathi Bhavan to finalise guidelines for the CM Dalit Empowerment Programme with representatives of Dalits for a marathon 11 hours. In this meeting, several MPs, MLAs, MLCs, intellectuals, senior leaders from various political parties have participated.
The Speakers have lauded CM KCR's endeavour for the welfare and development of 'Dalits.
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Speaking on the occasion, CM KCR said, "It is a blot on Indian society that Dalits are subjected to social and economic discrimination. This is deeply bothering all of us. The Telangana State government has introduced several schemes and programmes for the development and welfare of Dalits. It has attained qualitative change in agriculture and education sectors. But yet with an aim to set the Dalit families which are under the poverty line move towards development, CM Dalit Empowerment Programme is being introduced at a cost of Rs 1200 Crores."
The CM said it is the responsibility of the government to move the society forward like rearing of a child and any laxity would lead to a great loss to the future generations and the rulers would be held responsible for this. He said from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, Dalits are socially and economically exploited classes. He said this trend should be done away with.
"The State Government is ready to implement phased wise action plan to remove social and economic problems of Dalits. The CM urged the all-party meeting to give suggestions to make Dalits move forward in the society with confidence they too can progress, to make transparent policies for the empowerment of Dalits, which give no room for any manipulation and wanted the suggestions to be above the party politics.
"In the State, 7, 79, 902 SC farmers have 13, 58,000 acres agriculture land. We have to find out of this, how much is the assigned land? How much is still there and how much is lost? We have to get the statistics and identify lands, which have no water facility, and lands having no other facility. We have to prepare statistics about the SC lands in the state and stabilise them to get awareness. If need be, the state machinery should spend 10 to 15 days to compile statistics on SC lands in the State. They should keep ready the economic action plan. The government is ready to spend Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 Crore for the next three to four years on this. We have to take up a united action plan on this," the CM said.
The CM said with projects like Kaleswaram, in rural areas, there is an increase in agriculture-based employment. In the urban areas, Dalit youth explore possibilities in industrial and technological sectors. If one listens to Goreti Venkanna's song Galli Chinnadi, one would find solutions for Dalit issues. He said solutions should be found separately for the problems of Dalits living in rural and urban areas. He said the government aimed to implement Dalit Empowerment Programme strictly for the progress of Dalits. He clarified that the funds allocated for the Dalit Empowerment Programme are over and above the funds allocated for the SC Sub Plan.
The Chief Minister said the salaries of sanitation workers are increased regularly without their demanding it. He said they would be given a salary model like the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) as is requested by the all-party meeting. He also said it to give reservations to Dalits in the private sector would be examined. He said through Dalit Empowerment Programmes, eligible beneficiaries would be given assistance without any bank guarantees. Special plans would be prepared following the policy of the Centre for Dalit studies for the welfare and development of 'Dalits.
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