Scholarship for Scheduled Castes kids stuck as states fail to release share of funds

Meritorious students belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SC) in nine of the 29 states and union territories did not get post matric scholarships in 2022-23 as the states did not release their share to help students complete their schooling.

SC students of classes 11 and 12 in Maharashtra, Bihar, Punjab, Telangana, Daman and Diu, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Sikkim were unable to utilise the Centre's Post Matric Scholarship Scheme for Scheduled Caste students, a centrally sponsored scheme in place since 1944. The ministry of social justice and empowerment, the nodal ministry for the scheme, had earmarked ₹5,660 cr in 2022-23 and targeted to cover 66.15 lakh SC students under the scheme. Ministry statistics shared with ET reveal that about 65% of the earmarked funds remained unutilised as the ministry released ₹1,955.26 cr. This has been the lowest utilisation for the SC scheme over the past nine years. The scholarship has been disbursed to 23,74,921 SC students -- which is only about 36% of the targeted beneficiaries.

In 2020-21, the ministry had changed the funding pattern of the scheme with 60% of the cost being borne by the Centre and 40% by the state (the formula is 90:10 in northeastern states). When asked about the poor utilisation of funds under the post matric scholarship, social justice and empowerment minister Virendra Kumar said, "As per the new guidelines, the Centre cannot release its share till the state does. The moment the state disburses its share, the Centre automatically debits the amount. We have been repeatedly following up with all states and pushing them to ensure that the benefits reach the students."


The issue had been flagged by the parliamentary standing committee for social justice and empowerment while examining the demands for grants of the ministry earlier. The minister said his officials had intensively followed up with states working till midnight sometimes to ensure better utilisation in the last year.