NEW DELHI, September 9, 2011
SCs, STs do not have much access to public infrastructure: report
Aarti Dhar
National Infrastructure Equity Audit conducted in 125 gram panchayats
in five States
There is a continued prevalence of deep-rooted caste-based inequity in
the contribution and availability of infrastructure and, hence, of the
accessibility of services and entitlements, a report has suggested.
The Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and minorities do
not have access to functional infrastructure facilities as they are
'merely situated in the general or backward classes habitations,'
according to the National Infrastructure Equity Audit done by the
Social Equity Watch.
The audit is a first-of-its-kind study determining the access of
different social groups to public infrastructure in about 1,000
caste/religious habitations across five States. While village-level
infrastructure investment has been crucial in developmental
programmes, they are seldom equitably distributed. This equity audit
has been done in 125 Gram Panchayats in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Karnataka, Orissa and Rajasthan.
Releasing the report here on Friday, Tom Thomas, CEO of Praxis
(Institute for Participatory Practices) — the secretariat of Social
Equity Watch — said there were still many SC/ST habitations which were
left uncovered and people in these habitations had to travel longer
distance than prescribed in official norms. The equity gap is severe
in certain Gram Panchayats.
"At places where the infrastructure facilities are located in SC/ST
habitations, a sizable percentage of the service providers are from
the general or backward classes category. Further, most of these
infrastructure facilities are in private lands or buildings," Mr.
Thomas said.
The public infrastructure include, primary school, anganwadi centre,
health sub-centre, drinking water, primary health centres, community
centre, Panchayat Bhavan, road, Public Distribution System, post
office, secondary school, telephone and information kiosk.
The rating of services by SC/ST and minorities in accessing these
facilities was much lower than their backward class and general
counterparts in the same habitations. The satisfaction gap was largely
due to location of services in other habitation.
"From the findings, it emerges that the task ahead is to monitor the
location of new infrastructure in such a way that the existing equity
gap can be filled over the years. This would be crucial for scarce
resources such as drinking water and certain newer infrastructure such
as internet kiosks in the coming years," Mr. Thomas said.
The findings of audit will be presented before the Planning Commission
as a run-up to the 12{+t}{+h} Plan. The Praxis team has also sought an
appointment with the Rural Development Minister.
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