FOR a government in continuity, the first Budget of the UPA’s second term appears more cautious in breaking new grounds in the social sector and relies only on increasing spending for major social sector schemes.

Not only does the Budget fall short in setting a deadline to launch its much-promised National Food Security Act, implement a real wage of Rs 100 a day under the NREGA and enlarge the scope of works under NREGA — all commitments made in the Congress’s manifesto — it was also cautious in announcing new schemes for Dalits and poverty alleviation despite much ground work done in the previous regime.

Even as the Congress works hard against BSP chief Mayawati’s hold over Dalits, the Budget only announced a new scheme of Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) — something on the lines of Ambedkar Villages started by Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh — only as a pilot scheme despite a 16-member Committee of Ministers on Dalit Affairs headed by Pranab Mukherjee himself finalising a roadmap last year.

“There are about 44,000 villages in which the population of Scheduled Castes is above 50 per cent. A new scheme called Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana is being launched this year on a pilot basis, for the integrated development of 1,000 such villages. I propose an allocation of Rs 100 crore for this scheme.  Each village would be able to avail gap funding of Rs 10 lakh over and above the allocations under rural development and poverty alleviation schemes,” Finance Minister Mukherjee said in his Budget speech, promising to expand the scheme in the coming years.

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