Lok Sabha Question No. 140 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-02-24
Subject: Social Audit of Schemes
Ministry: MINORITY AFFAIRS
Asked by: PRATHAP SIMHA, SHOBHA KARANDLAJE, S.P. MUDDAHANUMEGOWDA, B.V. NAYAK

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 140 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.02.2016

## Social Audit of Schemes

- 140 SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA: KUMARI SHOBHA KARANDLAJE: SHRI S.P. MUDDAHANUME GOWDA: SHRI B.V. NAIK:

Will the Minister of MINORITY AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is a need to bring social audit into all programmes and schemes that concern minorities;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether the Government has developed a National Data Bank as suggested by the Sachar Committee;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS (SHRI MUKHTAR ABBAS NAQVI)

- (a)&(b) : Yes, Madam. The details of social audit of various programmes and schemes of Ministry of Minority Affairs is listed below:
1. The Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme: This programme provides for a structured monitoring mechanism at the Centre, State and District Levels. At the Central level, the progress of implementation of PM's New 15 Point Programme is monitored on quarterly basis with the Nodal Officers of concerned Ministries/Deptts.  at  the  level  of  Secretary  (MA).  Thereafter,  the  progress  is monitored once in six months by a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) and the report is  submitted  to  the  Union  Cabinet.  The  monitoring  mechanism  to  oversee  the progress  of  implementation  of  the  follow  up  action  on  the  Sachar  Committee Report is also same.

At the State and District levels, the monitoring of PM's New 15 PP is done by the State Level and District Level Committees in which MPs and MLAs, representatives  from  Panchayati  Raj  Institutions/Autonomous  District  Councils and  representatives  from  reputed  Non-Governmental  Institutions  dealing  with Minorities are members.

The  Department  dealing  with  minority  issues  of  the  State/UT  monitors  the progress of implementation of all minorities related schemes/initiatives in State/UT.

Apart  from  above  mechanisms,  the  implementing  Ministries/Deptts.  have  been advised to  conduct an  Evaluation  Study  of  their  respective  scheme(s)  covered under  above  programmes  through  an  independent  agency.  Some  of  these studies have already been conducted and the schemes have been found to be effectively implemented.

2. Multi-sectoral Development Programme (MsDP): The guidelines of restructured  MsDP  prescribe  monitoring  with  the  involvement  of  community (Social Audit). It envisages that an appropriate mechanism of Social Audit would be adopted by the  Ministry  of  Minority  Affairs.  The  Ministry  is  now  associating itself  with  the  Joint  Task  Force  on  Social  Audit  set  by  CAG  of  India  and  the Ministry of Rural Development to opertionalise the Social Audit of MsDP.
3. Scholarship  Schemes: There  is  no  need  for  Social  Audit  in  the  Scholarship schemes  because  sufficient  checks  and  balances  have  been  evolved  in  the process  of  submission  and  scrutiny  of  applications  for  Scholarship  schemes. Apart  from  this,  to  improve  transparency  in  scholarship  schemes,  a  National Scholarship  Portal  has  been  launched  for  various  Ministries  of  Government  of India including Ministry of Minority Affairs for extending scholarship. All the three scholarship schemes of this Division are on this portal. The scholarships would be transferred  in  the  bank  accounts  of  students  in  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT) mode.
3. (c) to (e): The Government took several decisions in respect of the follow-up action on the  recommendations  of  Sachar  Committee.  As  per  one  of  these  decisions,  a National Data Bank (NDB) having necessary data for the various Socio-Religious Communities (SRCs) is to be maintained. The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has created NDB.  The webpage of NDB contains 150 Tables on various SRCs along with a few National Sample Survey reports and data on the socio-religious categories.

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