Lok Sabha Question No. 4056 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-17
Subject: PM-YASASVI and SHRESHTA
Ministry: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT
Asked by: Shri Rakesh Rathor

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4056 TO BE ANSWERED ON 17.03.2026

## PM-YASASVI AND SHRESHTA

t4056. SHRI RAKESH RATHOR:

## Will the Minister of SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT be pleased to state:

- whether it is a fact that between the years 2020-21 and 2024-25, there has been a decrease (a) eighty nine lakh beneficiaries in scholarship schemes for SC, ST and OBC of approximately categories, including schemes like PM-YASASVI and SHRESHTA;
- whether mandatory Aadhaar linking, biometric discrepancies and technical glitches on the b) National Scholarship Portal (NSP) have contributed to the exclusion of students;
- () ifso, the reasons for the nearly 76% decline in Pre-Matric OBC scholarships following the exclusion of Classes one to eight the steps taken to bridge this gap; and
- whether the Ministry is aware of delays in fund disbursement and a lack of coordination between Central and State Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) portals; and
- the corrective measures being taken to prevent these issues from affecting the inclusion of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020? goals

## ANSWER

## MINSTER OF STATE FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EMPOWERMENT (SHRI BL:VERMA)

- (a) to (d): The Department is implementing various scholarship schemes including schemes like   PM-YASASVI and SHRESHTA for the welfare, educational empowerment and advancement of SC, ST and OBC students.

Continuous efforts such as Aadhaar-based verification; Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and the reforms on the National Scholarship Portal are being brought to strengthen scholarship systems SO that   deserving   students receives   timely   and   transparent   support to  pursue education improve their career prospects. and

Further; ftom 2021-22, the Pre-Matric Scholarship for OBC students was rationalised and & uniform scholarship of <4,000 per annum per student was introduced in of the earlier differential maintenance allowances i.e. Rs. 1,500 per annum to the 5,500 per annum to the hostelers place day

In some cases; or delayed utilisation of sanctioned funds by the implementing agencies (States/UTs) results in lower expenditure during the year; which may consequently affect the allocation and coverage of beneficiaries in the subsequent financial year: The budgetary continues to engage with States/UTs to ensure timely utilisation of Government; however; funds and wider coverage of eligible students under the scholarship schemes partial delays have   generally been attributed to various factors such as delayed Moreover; submission of proposals as per scheme guidelines; late release of matching share byhthe States/UTs, delayed opening & closing of the scholarship portals of Statesl UTs etc; There procedural  changes   contributing  the delay in the  release of funds  such are also some switching from SNA to SNA SPARSH platform and compliance of the same by the as States/UTs. State Governments/ UT Administrations are disbursing the scholarships through DBT  Ministry is taking measures to on-board the States/UTs on National Scholarship Portal (NSP) for faster processing of scholarship applications in order to reduce processing delays and enable Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to beneficiaries

Some of the measures  undertaken by the Ministry for effective implementation of (e): the Schemes are:

Periodic review of the implementation of schemes through third party evaluation studies;

through electronic and media, social media, short films o (iii) Awareness campaign schemes, etc;; print

Periodic meetings at National level; Regional level, State level and Field visits by Senior (ii) Officers, Chintan Shivirs to review the implementation of schemes;

To ensure transparency ad timely release of funds to the implementing institutions (iv) SHRESHTA, payments are made through the Public Financial Management System under residential schools under Mode-1 and to the NGOs working for (PFMS) directly to private Scheduled Caste students under Mode-2.

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