Karnataka Budget 2025: Congress under Fire over Diversion of SC/ST Funds

Two days before the presentation of the State budget by Karnakata Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on March 7, members of the BJP in Karnataka protested the diversion of funds allocated for the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

Describing the Congress government as “cruel” and “anti-Dalit”, BJP State President B.Y. Vijayendra on March 5 said the government “is incapable of implementing the guarantees [for SC and ST communities] and is misusing the funds allocated for the welfare of Dalits and tribals”.

Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, R. Ashok, ridiculed the Chief Minister, referring to him as “Looti Guarantee Anna (big brother who loots in the name of guarantees),” and said: “Siddaramaiah has ensured that the State’s finances are in a state of beggary.” In a similar vein, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, described the diversion of funds as “mosaa” (cheating).

The Congress came to power in Karnataka in 2023 riding on its promise that it would implement “five guarantees”. These populist welfare schemes, implemented after the Congress won a landslide victory, include Gruha Jyothi (200 units of free electricity to every household), Gruha Lakshmi (Rs.2,000 to a woman household-head in the BPL [below poverty line] category), Anna Bhagya (10 kg of rice to each person in the BPL category), Yuvanidhi (Rs.3,000 and Rs.1,500 for unemployed graduates and diploma holders respectively) and Shakti (free bus travel for women in public transport buses).

Even as the Congress has reaped some political benefit from these guarantees, which translated into its victory in the byelections last year, the burden on the State’s exchequer has been significant with the annual outlay on the guarantees hovering around Rs.52,000 crore.

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To fulfil its commitment on the guarantees, the government has been dipping into the funds granted to the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan (SCSP/TSP). Ironically, it was Siddaramaiah himself who had enacted the Karnataka Scheduled Castes Sub-Allocation & Tribal-Sub Allocation (Planning, Allocation and Utilisation of Financial Resources) Act in 2013. Karnataka became one of the first States to allocate a share of the Budget specifically to the welfare of Dalits and tribal people.

This piece of legislation meant that a portion of the budgetary expenditure in each of the 34 government departments had to be compulsorily spent only on the welfare of Dalits and tribal communities, in proportion to their share of the population. In Karnataka, this amounts to 24.10 per cent of the sanctioned Budget (Dalits constitute 17.15 per cent of the State’s population and tribal communities 6.95 per cent).

Congress responds

The Congress’ position is that Karnataka’s Dalits and tribal communities are also benefiting from the guarantees and in justifying this legally, the government is relying on one section (Section 7C) of the 2013 Act, which states that the SCSP/TSP corpus can be used for general social sector schemes. In last year’s Budget (2024-25), Rs.14,730.53 crore was diverted from the SCSP/TSP corpus of Rs.37,648.72 crore, to spend on the guarantees.

The BJP and Dalit groups argue, however, that the SCSP/TSP corpus is meant solely for Dalits and tribal communities and any diversion is a betrayal of the principle of social justice that anchors the 2013 Act.

Responding to the criticism, Social Welfare Minister H.C. Mahadevappa said: “Dalits and tribal people are also benefiting from the implementation of the guarantees. Under Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, and Yuvanidhi schemes, 56,88,822 persons belonging to Dalit and tribal communities have directly benefited. Lakhs of people from the two communities have also availed of benefits under the Gruha Jyoti and Shakti schemes.”

He added that it was “hypocritical” for the BJP to target the Congress on this issue as the saffron party was against Dalits and tribal communities. He cited Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on B. R. Ambedkar. In December 2024 in the Rajya Sabha, Shah had said: “Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai, ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’. Itna naam agar bhagwan ka lete to saat janmon tak swarg mil jata” (It has now become a fashion to say ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’. If they had taken god’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven for seven births).

At a press conference on March 4, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Priyank Kharge, defended the Karnataka government and turned the tables on the BJP. He alleged that the BJP government, which was in power in Karnataka between 2019 and 2023, had “illegally diverted Rs.6,021 crore from the SCSP/TSP corpus” for general infrastructure projects.

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The social activist Sripad Bhat responded to the Congress’ justification of the fund’s diversion: “There is no relation between the guarantees and SCSP/TSP corpus as the aims of both these programmes are different.” As per Section 7A of the 2013 Act, 100 per cent of a scheme’s cost should be allocated only for SC/ST communities, as the purpose of the Act was to create assets and economic self-reliance among socially, economically, and educationally backward communities, said Bhat. “Therefore, it is incorrect to divert SCSP/ TSP funds for the guarantees.”

The BJP, meanwhile, has planned a massive protest over the next few days to counter the Congress government on this issue.