Shillong, Jan 24: On learning of a very unique Act legislated for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes by the State of Karnataka, Bah John F Kharshiing, Co-Chairman, Meghalaya State Planning Board, Chairman, The Grand Council of Chiefs of Meghalaya, Spokesperson, Federation of Khasi States, had an interaction and meeting with officials of the Karnataka State Planning Board on 24th January 2014, in the City of Bangalore. The meeting was attended by senior advisers and planners of the State including prominent NGO representatives of Karnataka who expressed their willingness to share and exchange their inputs on various sectors including the challenges that could be used by the State Government of Meghalaya, the Autonomous District Councils and the Traditional Institutions of Self Government of Meghalaya.
The meeting discussed the Karnataka Schedule Castes Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act 2013, the objective of which was to ensure plan allocation for the SC & STs in Karnataka in the State Plan Outlay, the unique aspect of the Act is that it makes such allotted funds for SC & ST non-divertable, so as to ensure that the schemes benefiting the SC & ST reach the targeted beneficiary.
During the discussions and a brief from Bah John F Kharshiing, Co-Chairman, MSPB, it was suggested that this approach could also be adopted as a solution by the North East State Governments with the Planning Commission and the Government of India to incorporate as part of the proposed and upcoming amendments to the Sixth Scheduled and would resolve the long pending demand for direct funding to the ten Autonomous District Councils in North East.
During the discussions it was informed that Karnataka comprised of 30 Districts, including 176 Taluks(C&RD blocks) with a population of 6.11 crore, and it constituted 17.5% SCs and only 6.5% STs. The state also has four national parks with a total area of 2250 square kilometer (Sq Kms). However they are faced with a challenge of having only 17 % of the State under forest vrs the National Target of 33 %.
Further, Bah John F Kharshiing, Chairman, MSPB, was surprised to learn that due to inadequate public transport 71% of the vehicles in the State comprised of two wheel vehicles.
The Karnataka State Planning Board officials also informed about the implementation of the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Act 2011 which facilitates updates on government information to citizens through mobile phones and internet, and it also has provisions for incentive and penalties. Bah John F Kharshiing, Co-Chairman, MSPB, stated that he would forward all these inputs to the Meghalaya State Planning Board, for recommendation to the Government of Meghalaya and more importantly for the benefit of the citizens of Meghalaya.
The meeting was attended by Smt. B Chaudhuri, IES, Additional Secretary, Karnatak State Planning Board, Dr S Madheswaran, Adviser, Planning Program Monitoring & Statistics Department, Govt of Karnataka, Dr Balasubramaniam, MBBS, M.Phil, MPA(Harvard), from GRAAM, Dr. Rajeswari Kasturi, ISS, Deputy Adviser and Faculty, Fiscal Policy Institute, Govt of Karnataka and other officials of the State Government.(SP News)
