Need for a comprehensive plan for welfare of SCs and STs in Telangana: KCR

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Friday stressed the need for a comprehensive plan for the welfare of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes in the State, and made an impassioned call for cooperation from all political parties in this endeavour in true letter and spirit.

“Telangana State was achieved after a long struggle, and is now moving in the right direction, registering the highest development rate in the country. This growth rate should be used to eradicate poverty in the State,” the Chief Minister said, addressing SC and ST lawmakers from all political parties at a luncheon meeting at Pragathi Bhavan.

The Chief Minister, in keeping with the spirit of involving lawmakers from all parties to suggest measures for SC, ST welfare as well as amendments to be brought in to the existing Act, constituted two committees. The ST Committee will be headed by Tourism, Culture and ST Welfare Minister Ajmera Chandulal and the SC Committee will have Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari as the chairman.

Stating that the committees should meet frequently and make field visits, Rao said it would be up to the committees to decide on what measures should be taken for



SC, ST welfare. “The decisions taken by the committees whose members are from all political parties will be implemented by the government,” the Chief Minister assured, adding that he was also willing to send an all-party delegation to the Centre to press for SC categorisation.

Expressing dismay over the fact that despite several welfare programmes post-Independence, these communities continued to be poverty-stricken, Rao said: “We have to think of plans for these communities living in urban, semi-urban and rural areas. The living standards of the SC/STs living in these three areas are different, and hence, there is a need to plan for each of these categories separately.”

Stating that his commitment was to ensure 100 per cent qualitative change in the lives of SCs and STs, the Chief Minister said he believed that if there was a will, a change for the better for these communities was possible. “Forget the past and let bygones be bygones. Instead of criticism and counter-criticism, we have to find out what government needs to do. Let us strengthen the existing Act,” he told the 38 MPs, MLAs and MLCs, including from Opposition, who attended the meeting.