New Delhi: Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the Modi government of perpetuating a system of exclusion through its policies and asked why ‘Bahujan’ entrepreneurs are being excluded from the country’s biggest public contracts.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said he asked the government in Parliament that out of the Rs 16,500 crore public works contracts awarded last year, how much was secured by businesses owned by DalitsAdivasis and Backward Classes.
“Their response was deeply disturbing – the government does not hold any records in this matter,” he said in a Hindi Facebook post.
“The policy mandates that, under the public procurement process, 25% of purchases must be made by MSMEs, of which 4% is earmarked for Dalit and Adivasi entrepreneurs. However, when it comes to the biggest and most lucrative contracts – public works – the government claims this is not ‘mandatory’,” Gandhi said.
“This is not just an administrative oversight. It is a deliberately designed system of exclusion perpetuated through the policies of the Modi government that undermines social and economic justice,” Gandhi said.
He asserted that the question is straightforward — why Bahujan entrepreneurs are being excluded from the country’s biggest public contracts.
In his questions to the government in the Lok Sabha on April 2, Gandhi had asked the Housing and Urban Affairs Minister about the total number and value of public works and infrastructure contracts awarded by the Central Public Works Department and under the Ministry’s urban infrastructure schemes over the past five years, year-wise.
He sought to know the total number and value of such contracts awarded to enterprises owned by persons belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) during the last five years, year-wise.
Gandhi had also asked whether the government has met the existing sub-target of four per cent procurement by SC/ST owned businesses, if so, its details and if not, the reasons for it.
He had also asked whether the government proposes to introduce procurement targets by OBC-owned businesses and/or extend procurement mandates to SC/ST-owned enterprises in public works and infrastructure contracts, if so, their details and if not, the reasons for the same.
In his written reply to Gandhi’s questions, Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Tokhan Sahu, had given an annual number and value of contracts awarded for public works and infrastructure.
Sahu had said that there is no mechanism in place to ascertain the contracts awarded to enterprises owned by persons belonging to SCs, STs and OBCs.
“All the above contracts are under the works contract. So, no such information is available as it is not mandatory for the works contract,” he had said.
