All out to woo the Dalit community that constitutes over 30 per cent of voters in Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday described the Scheduled Caste (SC) community as the backbone of the State.

Badal, addressing a ‘Dalit Chetna Rally’, said that the Shiromani Akali Dal has always been a votary of their rights in accordance with the philosophy of great Sikh gurus and “thus, the party has taken historic initiatives for their overall welfare during its past decade long regime”. 

“SAD has been consistently working day in day out to safeguard the rights of the SCs,” he said.

Badal said that the Sikh gurus have always repudiated discrimination on account of caste and SAD has ever upheld the philosophy of the gurus.

The SC community comprises around 32 per cent population of Punjab.

listing “pro-poor initiatives” taken by his government for the “welfare” of unprivileged sections of the society, Badal said that the SAD government started 'Atta-Dal scheme' and so far wheat and pulses worth Rs 3,415 crore have been distributed among the beneficiaries.

“At present, 1.13 crore people were covered under Atta-Dal scheme and with the addition of seven lakh more families, the total number of people covered under it would go up to 1.41 crore, about half of state's population,” he said.

The financial grant given under the 'Shagun scheme' to SCs, Muslim and Christian communities besides economically poor for the marriage of their daughters had been enhanced from Rs 5,100 to Rs 15,000, Badal said.

Old age pension had also been doubled from Rs 250 to Rs 500 per month, he said.

He said that SC families were provided with free domestic electricity up to 200 units. 

Badal said that under 'Bhagat Puran Singh

Sehat Bima Yojana', 21.90 lakh families have been given the facility.

SC students from Class 1 to 10 were provided with free books, Badal said adding that more than four lakh girls from government schools studying in class 11 and 12 had been given free cycles.