Funds allocated for schemes meant to benefit Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) remained largely unutilised in the fiscal year 2020-21, according to the State Economic Survey presented in the Assembly on Friday.
Barely 19% and 25% funds were spent up to January 2021 under State- and district-level schemes for SCs and STs respectively. For the Scheduled Caste Component Scheme (SCCS), only ₹1,556.18 crore of the ₹6,939.36 crore proposed funds for State-level schemes was used. Of ₹2728.64 crore funds for district-level schemes, only ₹289.30 crore was spent.
Every year, the funds for SCCS are made available from the outlay for annual schemes in proportion to the SC population (11.8%). During 2020-21, under SCCS, 355 schemes (193 State-level, 80 district-level and 82 Centrally sponsored schemes) were implemented. For STs, of the ₹7559.03 crore funds for State-level schemes, only ₹2293.52 crore was spent, and of ₹1925.91 crore funds for district-level schemes, only ₹111.90 was used.
The funds for the Tribal Component Scheme (TCS) are made available from the outlay for annual schemes in proportion to the ST population (9.4%). During 2020-21, under TCS, 368 schemes (156 State-level, 148 district-level and 64 Centrally sponsored schemes) were implemented.
In previous years too, the Maharashtra government was unable to spend most of the proposed funds. In the previous fiscal, of ₹8,531 crore for STs only ₹6,821.52 crore was spent while for SCs, of ₹9208 crore only ₹6,389.52 crore was used.
