A new benchmark – Caste-based subsidies and manufacturing of majority : Mahesh Chandrasekaran
SC/ST/OBC/Minorities obviously a manufactured majority has been named ‘special category’ and the rest, (Non Reserve Category HIndus) are labelled ‘general category’. While the special category is entitled to higher subsidy rates, the so-called general category is entitled to a lower subsidy rates..
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Govt to create over 37 lakh jobs under new scheme
14 Aug 2008, 1508 hrs IST,PTI
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Thursday announced a new employment generation scheme to create over 37 lakh jobs by merging the existing Prime Minister’s Rozgar Yojana (PMRY) and the Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP).
The new credit-linked subsidy programme, called Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The financial implication of the new scheme, to be implemented over a four-year period, is estimated at Rs 4,485 crore, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.
¶The expected employment generation under the new scheme would be 37,37,500,¶ he said.
Under the PMEGP, which will be implemented through the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the maximum cost of a project admissable under the manufacturing sector will be Rs 25 lakh. For the services sector, the cost ceiling will be Rs 10 lakh, Chidambaram said.
Subsidy levels for the scheme in urban areas will be 15 per cent in the general category and 25 per cent in the special category, which includes SC, ST, OBC, minorities and ex-servicemen. In rural areas, the subsidy levels will be 25 per cent in the general category and 35 per cent in the special category.
¶The PMEGP improves upon the subsidy levels and the cost limits of projects compared to those available so far under the PMRY,¶ Chidambaram said adding that it also ensures that salient features of the REGP are not diluted in any way.
This scheme crosses all boundries of shameless and vicious discrimination and marks a clear attempt to convert the national population into majority and minority and make the minority irrelevant. The SC/ST/OBC/Minorities (obviously a manufactured majority) have been clubbed into special categories while the remaining, the NRC Hindus (to mask the discrimination have been called general category) have been converted into a minority. This scheme is no different from the TN situation where the 97% population is called weak and backward. This is a clear attempt to portray a majority as ‘deprived and disadvantaged’ and grant them super citizenship rights. The caste-based subsidy schemes with lower subsidy for the NRC Hindus beats what the whites did in South Africa during the aparthied period. If this is not challenged and opposed, the next step would be caste-based income tax, salaries, air/train fare, PDS food grains etc.
Also notice how the media that usually mentions the non-reserved category as ‘Upper Caste’ has quietly reported the matter as ‘general category’. It is impossible to believe that the caste-based discriminatory subsidy scheme escaped their notice. Does anything needs to be said about the media’s shameful conduct?
