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The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment released component-wise performance figures for the Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana (PM-AJAY), the merged Centrally Sponsored Scheme for Scheduled Caste development.
Rs 11,186 crore has been released across the scheme's three components from FY 2014-15 to date, through the Adarsh Gram, Grant-in-Aid and Hostel routes.
16,022 of 48,811 selected villages have been declared Adarsh Gram; the Grant-in-Aid component has reached 34.61 lakh beneficiaries.
PM-AJAY has run as a single merged scheme since 2021-22, replacing PMAGY, SCA to SCSP and the Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana.
Reduce poverty among Scheduled Caste communities and raise socio-economic indicators in SC-dominated villages.
Key: Merged Centrally Sponsored Scheme since 2021-22 under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, delivered through Adarsh Gram, Grant-in-Aid and Hostel components.
Integrated development of villages with a Scheduled Caste population share above 50%.
Key: Launched 2009-10; worked by converging Central and State schemes with a per-village gap-filling grant. Now the Adarsh Gram component of PM-AJAY.
Top up State outlays for income-generating and livelihood projects for Scheduled Caste families.
Key: Now the Grant-in-Aid component; funds go to States and UTs for district and State-level projects covering skilling and enterprise support.
Raise enrolment and retention of Scheduled Caste students by providing residential facilities.
Key: Launched 2008; funds construction and expansion of hostels. Now the Hostel component of PM-AJAY. Named after Babu Jagjivan Ram, independent India's first Labour Minister and later Deputy Prime Minister.
Earmark a share of Union ministries' scheme budgets for Scheduled Caste welfare and track its use.
Key: The Scheduled Castes Sub Plan was renamed DAPSC following NITI Aayog's 2017 guidelines; the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment monitors earmarking across 38 Union ministries and departments.
Constitutional body that investigates and monitors safeguards for Scheduled Castes, inquires into complaints, and advises on their socio-economic development planning.
Provides concessional credit and skill-training support to Scheduled Caste entrepreneurs and families; a fully Government-owned not-for-profit company under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.
Framed the 2017 guidelines under which the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan were renamed DAPSC and DAPST and the earmarking framework redesigned.
Directs the State to promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections, particularly the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and to protect them from social injustice and exploitation. Non-justiciable, but the stated basis for schemes like PM-AJAY.
Provides for the National Commission for Scheduled Castes. The 65th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1990 replaced the earlier single Special Officer with a multi-member Commission for SCs and STs.
Inserted by the 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003, which split the combined commission into a separate National Commission for Scheduled Castes (Article 338) and National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (Article 338A) from 2004.
Empowers the President, in consultation with the Governor, to specify the castes deemed Scheduled Castes for a State or Union Territory; only Parliament may alter that list.
GS Paper 2 > Social Justice > Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Constitutional Provisions
A scheme run by States with funds shared between the Centre and the States, as distinct from a Central Sector Scheme funded fully by the Union.
A village that has achieved the prescribed developmental indicators under PM-AJAY's Adarsh Gram component and is formally declared as such.
Development Action Plan for Scheduled Castes - the post-2017 name for the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan, under which Union ministries earmark scheme funds for SC welfare.