The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday restored language that makes it mandatory for MPs to recommend a fixed percentage of their annual local area development funds for areas with sizeable Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe populations.

In the new guidelines for the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) that were supposed to come into effect from April 1, the Centre had replaced three words, effectively removing the mandatory provision.

The guidelines said that it “shall be advisable” for MPs to recommend the prescribed percentage of funds for areas inhabited by SC/STs, replacing the original words “are to recommend” that had been in place since 2005.

However, with the Modi government possibly fearing an electoral backlash after some MPs highlighted the change that had largely stayed under the radar, the ministry of statistics and programme implementation’s MPLADS division issued a “corrigendum” on Tuesday night.

The “modified” version reads: “In order to give due attention to the development of infrastructure in the areas inhabited by Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Members of Parliament are to recommend every year, works costing at least 15 per cent of the total MPLADS entitlement for the areas inhabited by Scheduled Caste population and at least 7.5 per cent of the total MPLADS entitlement for the year for areas inhabited by Scheduled Tribe population.” (Emphasis added by this newspaper to highlight the change.)

After the government decided to dilute the provision for mandatory allocation for SC and ST areas, several MPs had protested.

Prominent among them was the CPM’s John Brittas, who was the first to flag the issue and wrote to the Union minister of state for statistics and programme implementation, Rao Inderjit Singh. “It was a lonely battle and I am relieved that the government is forced to retract its regressive step,” Brittas told this newspaper on Tuesday night.

On Monday, the Rajya Sabha member had written in The Wire news portal: “It (the now-dropped dilution) is a regressive decision made by a government that claims to be pro-poor and pro-downtrodden but secretly harbours what we think is an antagonistic attitude toward those very people.... Any revision should have been to enrich the scheme rather than diluting the essence of inclusivity.” The Centre has also decided to roll back the decision to exclude government-aided institutions from the ambit of the MPLADS.

The modified portion now reads: “MPLADS funds can be used for creation of immovable public assets on government-owned land, and movable public assets for government-owned and government-controlled institutions only, i.e. the central, state/ UT and local governments, including government-aided institutions.”

Another modification in the new guidelines relates to cooperative societies. They will now be eligible for assistance under the MPLADS on a par with registered trusts and societies, but only for the creation of durable assets for the community and for public utility buildings. Cooperative housing societies will not be eligible.