Usage of quotas in the state budget: A case study of Karnataka in India

Abstract

Persons with disabilities constitute nearly ten percent of the population of India, and the Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995 allocates 3% quota in all poverty alleviation programmes and schemes of the government. Though the system of quota has a legislative mandate to be used as a safety net, many studies have indicated that the state governments have failed in implementing the same in the case of people with disabilities. Karnataka has been one of the most progressive states in mainstreaming disability into the development agenda of the state, and through a democratic process of "participatory governance" it has ensured that the allocation of 3% quota is successfully implemented in all the poverty eradication programmes of the state.