In Punjab Welfare of SCs, BCs and minorities is the top on agenda as the Punjab Government has earmarked Rs. 819 crores in this fiscal for the welfare schemes of this downtrodden community. Disclosing this, a spokesman said that the outlay has been increased from Rs. 596 crore in the year 2013-14 to Rs. 819 crore in the year 2014-15, which is 37.42% higher than the last year.pulging the detail he said that Rs. 255 crore would be spent on the development of Scheduled Castes including scholarships to SC students. Besides this, Rs. 278 would be incurred on Multi-Sectoral Development programmes for minorities including scholarships to minority and infrastructure development of minority concentration blocks.
Similarly, Rs. 90 crore has been set aside for Shagun scheme to SC/ BC/ Christian girls/ widows/ porcee and daughters of widows of any caste at the time of their marriage. He said that Punjab Government is providing Rs. 15000 per beneficiary under Shagun scheme. Rs. 10 crore to be incurred for vocational training in ITIs for SC students, he added.The Spokesman further said that out of the annual plan 2014-15, Rs. 75.40 crore is being spent for the development of Backward Classes including Scholarships to BC students. “Punjab would provide houses to homeless SCs in rural and urban areas and Rs. 10 crore fund has been created for this purpose” he said. Spokesman said that Punjab Government is focusing on welfare schemes of SC & BCs besides other welfare schemes so that Punjab would witness overall development in all sectors.