Telangana CM has recently been informed to spend Rs 80,000 crore to Rs 1 lakh crore for Dalit Bandhu Scheme, touted as the country’s biggest direct benefit transfer scheme, to empower Dalits across the state.

Dalit Bandhu Scheme

• Dalit Bandhu is the latest flagship program of the Telangana government.
• It is envisioned as a welfare scheme for empowering Dalit families and enable entrepreneurship among them through a direct benefit transfer of Rs 10 lakh per family.
• This is, once implemented on the ground, going to be the biggest cash transfer scheme in the country.
• Apart from monetary assistance, the government plans to create a corpus called the Dalit Security Fund permanently to support the beneficiary in the event of any adversities.
• This fund will be managed by the district collector concerned, along with a committee of beneficiaries.
• The beneficiary would be issued an identity card with an electronic chip, which will help the government monitor the progress of the scheme.

Where is the scheme being implemented?

• The CM decided to implement it on a pilot basis in the Huzurabad Assembly constituency.
• Based on the experiences of implementation in Huzurabad, the scheme will be rolled out across the state in a phased manner.
• Officials were asked to visit Dalit colonies and interact with Dalit families to find out their views and opinions before preparing guidelines for the scheme.
• The pilot project will focus on monitoring the implementation of the scheme, evaluating the results, and also creating a safety fund for the beneficiaries with the government’s participation.

How is Dalitha Bandhu being implemented?

• The CM has ensured that the Dalit Bandhu is free.
• The governments in the past came out with some schemes and asked for bank guarantees.
• This is not a loan. There is no need to repay it. There is no chance of any involvement of middlemen.
• To promote Dalit entrepreneurship, the government has decided to start a system of reservations for Dalits in sectors where the government issues licenses.
• The government will provide reservations for Dalits in issuing licenses for wine shops, medical shops, fertilizer shops, rice mills, etc.

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