Welfare schemes for scheduled castes: Exploring the extent of awareness in rural poor

The main focus of the present paper is to explore the level of awareness of various Government schemes for the welfare of the Scheduled castes people in Punjab. Welfare of Scheduled Castes has been the main objective of State governments. For this, various schemes have been introduced by the through its constitutional provisions. A great deal of efforts has been made by the central and state governments to improve the economic, educational and social status of these depressed classes. Not only government but various voluntary organisations are also included in the task. As for Punjab, Scheduled Castes population is the highest or its total population as compared to other states and its contribution to the social, economic and political life has increased all the more. But in spite of it, it can't be denied that these sections are not able to achieve a status, equal to that or other social classes. It was found that lack of awareness among Scheduled Castes about their civil rights and various development programmes make these communities vulnerable to social discrimination. The awareness programmes is also aimed at bringing up the status of Scheduled Castes. So the present paper is based on primary survey and finds a general lack of awareness about the basic welfare schemes among the indented beneficiaries and the paper also provides some suggestions that may result in better implementation of the evaluated programme in study area.