Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray reminding him about the commitment made in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)’s Common Minimum Program (CMP) while forming the government.
In the letter which focused on the CMP for betterment of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities, Ms. Gandhi said, “The budget allocation for the development of SC/ST communities should be proportionate to their share in the population. Focus may be on the schemes that benefit SC/ST communities to bring them on par with rest of the society at the earliest.”
The letter comes on the backdrop of criticism of the Congress party for being the weak link in the MVA with its ministers not being able to assert themselves. A number of instances have also put Congress ministers on back foot where the Finance Department headed by NCP leader Ajit Pawar chose to curtail funds.
Ms. Gandhi recommended legislative backing to utilise the funds allocated during the same fiscal, referring to similar action earlier by Congress governments in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
The letter also advocated reservation in government contracts and projects for enterprises promoted by SC/ST professionals to stimulate entrepreneurship in these communities.
“Rapid recruitment drives should be mounted for filling up backlog vacancies in a time-bound manner for posts already reserved for SC/ST in different departments,” the Congress chief said.
Ms. Gandhi has also emphasised the need to prioritise education, skill development and technical training of youth in SC/ST communities and expansion of scholarship schemes, hostel facilities and particularly on residential schools.