Lok Sabha Question No. 1843 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-14
Subject: Reduction in Budget Allocation
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: Badruddin Ajmal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1843

## ANSWERED ON 14.12.2023

## REDUCTION IN BUDGET ALLOCATION

1843: SHRI M. BADRUDDIN AJMAL:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  budget  allocation  has  been  decreased  for  the  Ministry  despite  the  fact  that minorities are in dire need of welfare as well as educational schemes and if so, the reasons therefor;

(b) whether it is true that a large number of students from minority communities were unable to avail the benefit of scholarship despite fulfilling the criteria just because of lack of fund;

(c) if so, whether reduction in budget allocation would lead to deprivation of more students; and

(d) if so, the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

- (a):  The Government implements various schemes for the welfare and upliftment of every strata, including minorities, specially the economically weaker and lesser privileged sections of the society, through  various schemes  of  the Ministry  of  Skill  Development  and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Textiles, Ministry  of Culture,  Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Ministry of Jal Shakti etc.
2.          Ministry  of  Minority  Affairs  specifically implements various schemes  across  the country  for socio-  economic  and educational  empowerment  of  the  six  (6)  centrally notified minority communities.  These schemes give representation to all weaker segments of society including minorities. The Schemes/ programmes implemented by the Ministry during the last five years are as under:

## A. Educational Empowerment schemes

- (1) Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme
- (2) Post-Matric Scholarship Scheme
- (3) Merit-cum-Means based Scholarship Scheme

## B. Employment and Economic Empowerment Schemes

- (4) Pradhan Mantri Virasat ka Samvardhan (PM VIKAS)
- (5) Equity to National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) for providing concessional loans to Minorities

## C .   Special Schemes

- (6) Jiyo Parsi: A Scheme for reversing the population decline of Parsis in India
- (7)  Quami Waqf Board Taraqqiati Scheme (QWBTS) and Shahari Waqf Sampatti Vikas Yojana (SWSVY)
- (8)  Research/Studies,  Dissemination,  Monitoring  and  Evaluation  of  Development Schemes including Publicity

## D .  Infrastructure Development Schemes

- (9) Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK)
3.         The budget of the schemes of the Ministry of Minority Affairs was reduced due to the following reasons:
3. (i)       Adoption  of  new  mechanism  for  release  of  Central  share  of  funds  under  Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Central Sector Schemes, for which State Nodal Agencies (SNA) and Central Nodal Agencies (CNA) were required to be appointed. As per the revised procedure of  Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, release of funds under Pradhan Mantri Jan  Vikas  Karyakram  (PMJVK)  are  not  tied  to  the  individual  projects  and  the  amount available  in  the  account  of  State  Nodal  Agency  (SNA)  forms  a  common  pool.  As  on 1.12.2023, the unspent amount with the States is ₹ 1515.91 crore, and the States are required to first incur expenditure from the SNA account, to complete the ongoing projects.
4. (ii)       Scholarship schemes of the Ministry were to be aligned with the pattern followed by the Education Ministry and other ministries such as Tribal Affairs and Social Justice. Central Government  had  taken  the  decision  to  limit  the  coverage  under  Pre-Matric  Scholarship Scheme for Minorities to only Classes IX and X based on very strong rationale. Firstly, it was observed  that  the  participation  of  students  from  Minority  communities  is  at  par  with  the national  average  at  primary  and  elementary  level.  Also,  the  students  at  these  levels  are already  covered  under  Right  to  Education  (RTE)  Act.  Further,  there  was  a  felt  need  to harmonize  the  coverage  under  Pre-Matric  Scheme  for  minorities  with  similar  schemes implemented for other target groups like Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and the OBCs.
5. (iii)       The two flagship schemes of the Ministry -Scholarship Scheme and PMJVK Scheme together account for nearly 80% of the Ministry's budget.
6. (iv)       The Government has taken a decision to discontinue the following schemes from the Financial Year 2022-23:-
- a. Maulana Azad National Fellowship for Minority students
- b. Padho Pardesh
- c. Free Coaching and Allied Schemes (Naya Savera)
- d. Nai Udaan Scheme  - Support for Minority Students clearing Prelims conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Staff Selection Commission (SSC), State Public Service Commissions (SPSCs)
11. (v)         Skilling  schemes  (Skill  Development  Initiative,  USTTAD,  NAI  Manzil,  Hamari Dharohar and Scheme for Leadership Development of Minority women) under Ministry of Minority  Affairs  have  been  amalgamated  under  the  PM  Virasat  Ka  Samvardhan  (PM VIKAS).
12. (b)  to  (d).          The  Ministry  of  Minority  Affairs  implements  the  following  Scholarship Schemes  for  students  belonging  to  any  of  the  6  Notified  Minority  Communities  viz. Buddhist,  Christian,  Jain,  Muslim,  Sikh  and  Zoroastrian  (Parsi)  are  eligible  to  apply  for scholarships under the below mentioned Scholarship Schemes:-
- i. Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme - Scholarship is provided to students studying in Class  IX  and  X  level  in  Government/recognized  Private  schools.  Minimum  30% scholarships are earmarked for girls. To be eligible, students should not have annual parental/guardian's income of more than ₹ 1.00 lakh and he/she should have secured minimum 50% marks in previous class.
- ii. Post Matric Scholarship Scheme - Scholarship is provided to students studying in Class XI to Ph.D level in Government/recognized Private schools/Colleges/Institutes. Minimum 30% scholarships are earmarked for girls. To be eligible, students should not  have  annual  parental/guardian's  income  of  more  than  ₹  2.00  lakh  and  he/she should have secured minimum 50% marks in previous class.
15. iii . Merit-cum-Mean  based  Scholarship  Scheme -  The  scholarship  is  awarded  for pursuing  professional  and  technical  courses  at  under-graduate  and  post-graduate levels, in institutions recognized by the appropriate authority. Under the scheme, 30% Scholarships  are  earmarked  for  girl  students.  85  institutes  for  professional  and technical  courses  have  been  listed  in  the  scheme;  for  which  full  course  fee  is reimbursed.  To  be  eligible,  students  should  not  have  annual  parental/guardian's income  of  more  than  ₹  2.50  lakh  and  he/she  should  have  secured  minimum  50% marks in previous class.
2.          Based  on  the  study  report and physical  verification conducted through a third-party agency, it has been found that gross irregularities with instances where benefit of Scholarship Schemes  is  not  reaching  to  the  targeted  beneficiaries.  Accordingly,  Ministry  took  the

following steps to ensure that such cases should not be repeated and systemic changes and due diligence can be brought about for streamlining the scheme:

-            Ministry  referred  the  matter  to  CBI  for  thorough  investigation  and  FIR  has  been registered by CBI on 28.08.2023.
-            Subsequently, Ministry also conducted a drive for Aadhaar based bio authentication of all verifying officers and verified applicants during the period 01.08.2023 to 22.09.2023, by engaging CSC e-Governance Services India Ltd through a dedicated utility based on the data on National Scholarship portal (NSP) and Aadhaar.
3.          The  Government  has  sufficient  funds  under  the  relevant  budget  head  to  meet  the requirement for disbursement of scholarship.

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