At a time when Congress managers are going all out to win over the Dalit vote base in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre has floated a proposal that will require all its departments to make at least 30 per cent of their purchases, procurement from suppliers and manufacturers belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The proposal by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has been sent to the Finance Ministry for approval since rules for purchases by the government will need to be amended.

The idea for the scheme came from Digvijay Singh, AICC general secretary who is working with Rahul Gandhi as the party goes about its Mission UP. As Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Singh had implemented a similar scheme. In this connection, he is learnt to have held several meetings with party member and Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik.

In 2003, the Digvijay Singh government in Madhya Pradesh decided 30 per cent of its purchases would be done from SC/ST manufacturers and small-scale firms. But this mandatory provision was removed in 2005 after the BJP came to power in the state.

Incidentally, a ministerial panel in the earlier UPA government too had made a similar proposal. A group of ministers, chaired by Ram Vilas Paswan, had advocated a set of direct action programmes for SC/STs.