Overview

• The SC/ST State Development Council’s July 28 meeting sanctioned using Rs 11,896.84 crore from constitutionally mandated SCSP/TSP budgets for five flagship guarantee schemes.
• Of the diverted funds, Rs 7,438 crore is earmarked for Gruha Lakshmi, Rs 2,626 crore for Gruha Jyoti, Rs 1,670 crore for Anna Bhagya, Rs 1,537 crore for Shakti Yojana and Rs 162 crore for Yuva Nidhi.
• Karnataka followed a similar approach in recent years, reallocating Rs 11,114 crore in 2023–24 and Rs 14,282.38 crore in 2024–25 from SCSP/TSP to guarantee schemes.
• Karnataka BJP president B.Y. Vijayendra denounced the move as a betrayal of Dalit and tribal communities and vowed protests inside and outside the Assembly if it is not reversed.
• Social Welfare Minister H.C. Mahadevappa defended the diversion as legally permissible under the SCSP-TSP Act and accused the BJP of having misused the same provisions in the past.