A tribal rights advocacy group has rued that budgetary cuts on food subsidy and MNREGA will hurt tribal communities the worst.
"Tribal communities have the highest numbers of those malnourished, particularly children and women. Cuts in food subsidies will be disastrous and lead to direct intensification of hunger," said Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM) in a press statement.
They also say that tribal communities account for 20% of Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers, who will bear the brunt of the 25% cut in MGNREGA allocation for the financial year 2023.
"Our 20% share among MNREGA workers is more than double our share in the total population, which shows the desperate need for waged work," AARM said.
An allocation of ₹89,265.12 crore in the Union Budget, which accounts for only 2.26% of the total expenditure, is far below the 8.6% allocation needed according to the estimates of the 2011 census, so that allocations were proportionate to the population of scheduled tribes in the country, AARM asserted.
It claims that often expenses earmarked for the welfare of STs were “misleading”.
"The special tribal component (STC) under the Modi government is cheating the tribals by diverting the money meant directly for tribal development into other expenditures. Forty one departments/Ministries are mandated to be part of the STC. But, for example, an amount of Rs 4,500 crores spent on building highways is shown as part of expenditure for tribals, while 50% of tribal villages have no public transport. The STC is replete with such blatant diversions. This is nothing but cheating the tribal communities," the statement said.
