Budget 2020: SC, OBC students wait for their due; half of earmarked scholarship money not paid

Budget 2020-21: Money allocated for scholarships for students coming from SC, OBC background has not been completely utilised in the first nine months of the financial year 2019-2020. While the government aimed to achieve 75 per cent utilisation of the total amount allocated for scholarships till December 2019, only 50 per cent was spent on students from SC and OBCs, The Indian Express reported. Students belonging to other minority categories did not even get 40 per cent of the overall amount. Not just scholarships, expenditure on hostels for these students was highly unutilised. “Of the Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatravas Scheme’s allocation of Rs 107.76 crore, only Rs 7.6 crore (7.05 per cent) has been spent till January 3,” the report said.

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment was allocated to spend Rs 2,926.82 crore for post-matric scholarships to students belonging to SC, however, only Rs 1,731.31 crore was used. Moreover, the government has only used 23 per cent of total tuition money for free coaching of Scheduled Caste and OBC students. According to the report, the government has used only Rs 6.9 crore till January first week while the overall allocation for tuitions was Rs 30 crore. “Similarly, of Rs 355 crore allocated to Pre-Matric Scholarship to Scheduled Castes, only Rs 182.67 crore (51.45 per cent) was spent,” the report said. 

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Not even 50 per cent of Rs1,470 crore for Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram was utilised for the students belonging to the minorities section, the report added. Furthermore, the government’s expenditure for the Pre-Matric Scholarships for minority students stood at only Rs 126.9 crore of Rs 1,220.30 crore allocated for the same. “For the support of the UPSC candidates who clear the C-SAT (Prelims) examination of Civil Services Exams, Rs 20 crore was allocated but till November 30, only Rs 5 crore was spent,” according to the report.

The central government had introduced these pre-matric and post-matric scholarship schemes for SCs, OBCs, DNTs, EBCs and other disadvantaged sections for the betterment of students. However, states were made responsible for 90 per cent of the financial burden post-2017 for running these schemes. Due to this, the schemes have reportedly been adversely impacted as the funds often did not reach the beneficiaries.