It is a pertinent and self-critical question whether Kerala’s SC are progressing at the same rate as Kerala, which has its own social development background that serves as a model for India.
The total budget allotted for SC development in 2021–22 was Rs. 2708.54 crore, of which Rs. 1487.39 crore (45%) and Rs. 1221.15 crore (55%) were set aside for programmes carried out through the Scheduled Castes Development Department (SCDD) and local self-governments, respectively.

From its total budget, SCDD has set out Rs. 335 crore (22.5%) for the education sector and Rs. 82.50 crore (5.5%) for skill-building and employment-related initiatives. In the allocation to local self-governments, Rs.242.40 crore has set out to the education sector (16.6 %), and Rs. 8.56 crore to vocational expertisation (0.6 %).
The number of beneficiaries in the skill and employment sectors implemented by SCDD is only 599 and 844 respectively. The physical targets achieved in these sectors did not meet the needs of the society, given the 49 percent unemployment rate among SC.
Out of the total earmarked amount of Rs.2,708.54 crore in 2020-21, SCDD expended Rs.1,313.37 crore (88.30 %) and Local Governments expended Rs. 1,125.87 crore (92.20 %).

The Scheduled Castes (SC) constitutes 9.1 percent of Kerala's population. The Kerala government has been designing and implementing special development projects to empower these people who have been socially marginalised for historical reasons. In comparison to other Indian states, Kerala still follows the five-year planning process and allots the plan fund to the development of Scheduled Castes in proportion to their population as Scheduled Castes Sub Plan.
As a result of the various development processes that occurred in Kerala following independence, it has been possible to make progress in many areas such as education, health, women's empowerment, public distribution, transportation, communication, social security etc and for improving standard of living  to the people. Kerala's progress in human resource development has been recognised internationally under the name of the Kerala model of development and Kerala is ranked first in India in the NITI Aayog's 2020-21 Sustainable Development Index (SDI). However, it is a pertinent and self-critical question whether Kerala's SC are progressing at the same rate as Kerala, which has its own social development background that serves as a model for India. The question here is whether a Kerala model development is possible without taking into account the level of development of SC community.
Despite the fact that the central government has abolished the five-year plan system, Kerala continues to follow it. Furthermore, it is the twenty-fifth anniversary of Kerala's successful implementation of decentralised planning since 1997, which serves as a model for the rest of India. As the final year of the Thirteenth Five Year Plan and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the People's Plan, the period 2021-22 merited special attention from the perspective of marginalised groups' development. Furthermore, this is a time when Kerala is introducing a new paradigm called the knowledge economy to the world as the foundation for Kerala's future economic and social growth. In this period, which is rich in experiments and experiences, no one should be left behind in the process of the fulfilment of Kerala's new development concepts. However, it is important to look into the issue of whether Kerala's development achievements have also benefited the SC community independently. In this background, this article analyses SCs' present position in the crucial areas of employment, skilling and education within the framework of the Economic Review Report 2021-22.
Economic Review 2021 discusses the development issues of Scheduled Castes (SC) in Chapter 8-Initiatives for social inclusion. It is divided into three sections: Gender and development, Addressing socio-economic vulnerabilities and Social security measures. The concerns of SC, ST, OBC, Minorities, and Forward communities are covered in the second section. The total budget allotted for SC development in 2021-22 was Rs. 2708.54 crore, of which Rs. 1487.39 crore (45%) and Rs. 1221.15 crore (55%) were set aside for programmes carried out through the Scheduled Castes Development Department (SCDD) and local self-governments, respectively.
Allocation for education, skill and employment
From its total budget, SCDD has set out Rs. 335 crore (22.5%) for the education sector and Rs. 82.50 crore (5.5%) for skill-building and employment-related initiatives. The management of model residential schools received Rs. 15 crore, the educational support programme received Rs. 245 crore, and additional state aid to post-matric students received Rs. 75 crore under the education sector. A total of Rs. 50 crore was allotted for training, employment, and human resource development in the skill and employment sector, and an additional Rs. 32.5 crore was allotted as the state's 40 per cent share of the Deendayal Antodaya Yojana, which is carried out by local self-governments.
Looking at local self-government's allocation, the scheme-wise total allocation to schemes formulated under Special Component Plan (SCP) during 2021-22 comes to Rs.1487.39 crore. Out of this, Rs.242.40 crore was allocated to the education sector (16.6 %), and Rs. 8.56 crore was allocated to vocational expertisation (0.6 %). To employment schemes Rs.31.96 crore was allocated directly for industry, self-employment enterprises, marketing promotion and small businesses (2.2%). However, the funding allocated to the areas of agriculture, animal husbandry, dairy development, and fisheries, which either directly or indirectly produce jobs, was Rs. 43.54 crore (3 %).
Physical targets achieved by SCDD
Economic Review 2021 only provides information on physical targets up to September 30, 2021, hence Table 1, which shows the physical targets accomplished in the education, skill, and employment sectors throughout 2021-2022, uses data from Plan Space. One of the key areas that SCDD prioritises and where 15 major programmes are in operation is education.

According to the Economic Review data, 362936 students received the lump sum grant in 2021-2022 compared to 544533 students in 2020-2021.  
According to the Primary Household Sample Survey 2018, which was carried out by GIFT, 84.1% of SC students have not studied beyond plus two level. Here, an analysis of the physically attained goals more or less supports the aforementioned finding. The comparison of physical targets attained in schemes such as Ayyankali Scholarship (27501), Pre-Matric Scholarship (13462), Laptops (1110), Medical/Engineering Students (523), and Students Studying Abroad (117) demonstrates the gradual fall of SC students in the higher education sector.
The skilling, up-skilling, and reskilling are essential if community members are to get livelihood measures that will assure a decent living. The number of beneficiaries in the skill and employment sectors is only 599 and 844 respectively. The physical targets achieved in these sectors did not meet the needs of the society, given the 49 percent unemployment rate among SC. Out of the allocated sum of Rs. 50 crores in 2020-21, this sector spent Rs. 38 crore (76 %). In 2020-22, the allocation was the same and the expenditure up to September 2021 was Rs.12.60 crore (25.2%).
Table 2 shows the outlay, expenditure and the number of beneficiaries under self-employment scheme implemented by SCDD during 2021-22.

The district-wise distribution given in Table 2 illustrates two points. The allocation for the self-employment scheme is both inadequate and unevenly distributed. As per the GIFT sample survey 2018, the working age population (15-64) of SC is 73.4 per cent and the deprivation rate is 57.66 per cent (SECC 2011). In this background, the minimal allocation of Rs.36 lakhs as self-employment subsidy cannot make any significant impact in reducing unemployment among SC. In addition, two districts each have just one recipient and three districts have no beneficiaries at all.
Overall performance of local self-governments in SC development
Table 3 displays the allocation and expenditure of funding for SC development through various local self-governments in 2020-21. Block panchayats had the highest expenditure rate of all the local bodies at 75.46 percent. The overall expenditure rate of 70 per cent could be improved. In all types of local self-government, the expenditure rates of the schemes for SC were lower than the rate of general sectors. For instance, the general sector expenditure rate in district panchayats is 74 per cent whereas the SC rate was only 63%.