Our Bureau

Visakhapatnam , April 18

THE Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes Co-operative Finance Corporation Ltd will be revitalised to take up several schemes for the benefit of 1.5 crore people belonging to the Scheduled Caste in the State, according to Mr R.D Wilson, the new Chairman.

At a press meet here on Monday, Mr Wilson said the budgetary allocation and outlay for various schemes of the corporation had been reduced from Rs 500 crore or so to the current level of Rs 210 crore during the nine-year rule of the Telugu Desam.

"The corporation is in such state that almost 80 per cent of the Dalits in the State are not even aware of its existence. It is my first priority to revitalise the corporation, weed out corporation and implement the schemes in right earnest," he said.

Considering the problem of landlessness, especially in the rural areas, the corporation would strive to acquire lands for Dalits in each district and develop them.

"Under the Indira Prabha scheme, the State Government is developing the lands assigned to the poorer sections. We want the lands acquired by the SC Finance Corporation under the same category and allocation of funds for the purpose," he said.

He said the corporation would give education loans to the SC students. Those studying medicine would get Rs 3 lakh, engineering students Rs 2 lakh and the students of management Rs 1 lakh.

The representation of Dalits in the media was very poor, he said. Therefore, the corporation would finance organisations imparting training to Dalit students in journalism and allied fields.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the role of banks in financing schemes taken up for SCs, he said banks should be more liberal and procedures should be simplified.

He said all steps would be taken to cleanse the corporation and eliminate middlemen in the implementation of various schemes financed by the State and the Centre.

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