Lok Sabha Question No. 5600 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-04
Subject: Underutilization of Funds in key Schemes
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Ms. Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5600

TO BE ANSWERED ON 04.04.2025

## UNDERUTILIZATION OF FUNDS IN KEY SCHEMES

## 5600. MS. PRANITI SUSHILKUMAR SHINDE:

Will the Minister of Women and Child Development be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  Mission  Shakti  and  Mission  Vatsalya  faced  significant  underutilization  of  funds between 2021-22 and 2024-25, with Mission Shakti spending 43 percent lower and Mission Vatsalya spending 14 percent lower than budgeted;
- (b) if so, the details of the reasons for underutilization along with its impact on the implementation of said schemes; and
- (c) the details of the measures being taken by the Government to ensure optimal utilization of funds along with effective delivery of benefits under both missions?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR)

(a): The actual expenditure in respect of Mission Vatsalya between the year 2021-22 and 2024-25 is 99.46% of the Revised Estimates (RE). In respect of Mission Shakti, the actual expenditure between the same period is 88.83% of the RE.

(b):   Mission  Vatsalya  and  Mission  Shakti  are  both  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  (CSS).  The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) releases funds to the States/ UTs as per the guidelines of the schemes and also as per the instructions issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, from time to time for ensuring financial prudence in the matters of expenditure from public fund through observance of the procedure prescribed including Single Nodal Agency (SNA)  or  SNA  SPARSH  of  the  Public  Financial  Management  System  (PFMS)  and  the implementation  of  the  schemes  lies  within  the  domain  of  the  State  Governments  and  UT Administrations. The new system of release of central share of funds has been introduced to bring in more efficiency in cash management and to achieve the goal of 'Just in time' funds flow from both Centre and States. The main reasons for partial under-utilization of funds include delay in transition by States and UTs to Single Nodal Agency (SNA) and from SNA to SNA SPARSH module. After implementation of SNA module, the following requirements are to be met by States/ UTs before the Central Share is actually released:

- i. Utilisation by State or UT of 75% of funds released.
- ii. SNA Balance in State or UT of maximum 12.5% or less of the annual allocation (Centre + State share) in the SNA before release.
- iii.  Deposit  of  interest  by  State  or  UT  accrued  on  the  funds  earlier  released  by  Central Government but lying unspent with the State or UT.

In  addition there are various other factors that have a bearing on release of funds by the Central Government.  Some  of  these  include  delay  in  completion  of  construction  activities,  including identification  of  land  for  construction  of  buildings  like  One  Stop  Centers  (OSCs),  etc,  delay  in submission  of  Utilization  Certificates  (UCs)  and  Statement  of  Expenditure  (SoE),  shortfall  in activities carried out under Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW) etc, receipt of incomplete documents required for the release of pending liabilities, nonreceipt of bills against the mother sanction issued to the States/ UTs., transition to new advanced software which is paper-less and Aadhar authentication and NPCI seeding enabled under Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) etc.

(c):  The  Ministry  reviews  the  progress  of  implementation  in  coordination  with  States  and  UTs through  various  modes  including  the  Programme  Approval  Board  (PAB)  meetings,  Video Conferencing, field visits by officers from the Ministry and issues advisories from time to time. The Ministry through the PFMS team organises handholding sessions for States/ UTs for early resolution of SNA/ SNA SPARSH related issues. Further, the Ministry has developed a dedicated portal for uploading of UC and SoE by the States/ UTs to avoid delays in receipt of documents from States/ UTs. The transition to new software under PMMVY is now complete (except in cases of Tamil Nadu and Odisha). Pending applications from the old software of PMMVY has now been migrated to the new software. These have resulted in faster processing of cases.

The Ministry also conducts various awareness programs through States/ UTs. It includes various Information, Education and Communication (IEC) and Behavioral Change Communication (BCC) activities  among others,  Prabhat Pheri,  Nukkad Natak, Newspaper Advertisements, Airing Radio Jingles, Selfie Campaign, Door to Door Campaign, Community Programmes which are conducted at field functionary levels. Further, the Ministry also runs special campaign for registration of eligible beneficiaries in all the States and UTs under PMMVY on a periodic basis.

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