The parliamentary standing committee for social justice and empowerment has taken a grim view of the ministry’s inability to spend funds allocated to it and questioned its fiscal management. It has said that it finds the surrender of funds “incomprehensible”.
In a report, the committee has pointed out that the department of social justice and empowerment has surrendered Rs 2,345 crore out of ₹10,309 crore – about 23% – sanctioned for the SC division in 2024-25. The report has observed, “The committee cannot comprehend the reasons due to which large portion of the allocation had to be surrendered in respect of the schemes meant for the poorest of the poor section of the society, i.e., SCs, OBCs, EBCs and DNTs (denotified tribes).” In the same report, the panel has also expressed concern over nearly 20-25% of the budget allocated for ‘Top Class Education’ for SCs and ‘Top Class School and College’ schemes for OBCs, EBCs and DNTs being surrendered. The schemes are scholarship schemes for helping meritorious students from vulnerable sections to pursue higher studies after Class 12.
“The committee cannot draw any other conclusion than that the surrender of funds can take place only when either there is no proper assessment or the implementing agencies are not strictly implementing the schemes,” the report said, adding that the ministry’s justification putting the blame on states for fewer proposals was “not convincing”.
The 31-member parliamentary standing committee, headed by BJP MP PC Mohan, expressed concern over the unutilised funds. “The committee, however, is not pleased to note that the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has not been able to spend the allocated amount over all these years,” it said in the report. While the Budget Estimates have been increased over the last few years, the ministry is consistently scaling down this budget allocation by about 30% at the revised estimates stage.
