The State Economic Survey 2019-20 has said that less than 40% of the funds allocated for the Scheduled Caste Component Schemes (SCCS) and Tribal Component Scheme (TCS) were spent in the current fiscal up to December.
Of the total proposed funds of ₹9,208 crore for 2019-20 in SCCS, only ₹2,883.86 crore was spent till December. In case of TCS, only ₹3,764.98 crore of the allocated ₹8,531 crore was spent. There have been criticisms in the past from SC and ST community workers of financial mismanagement, as bulk of the money is spent in the last quarter.
The data also shows that the government did not spend funds allocated for SCCS and TCS in previous years. In 2018-19, the funds proposed for SCCS and TCS were ₹9,949.22 crore and ₹8,282.10 crore respectively. The State had spent only ₹6,468.75 crore and ₹7,291.9 crore, respectively.
Similarly, in 2017-18, of the ₹7,231 crore and ₹7,444.79 crore allocated for SCCS and TCS respectively, the government spent only ₹6,140.62 crore and ₹6,313.73 crore respectively.
Minority funds unused
Moreover, funds meant for minorities have also not been spent completely in the past few years. This fiscal, too, more than 50% of the allocated funds was yet to be spent by December 2019. According to the Economic Survey, ₹41.89 crore was allocated for area development in minority concentrated urban areas and ₹51 crore for rural areas in 2019-20. By December 2019, only ₹25.13 crore and ₹22.16 crore respectively had been spent.
In previous years as well, the money meant for these schemes was spent entirely. In 2017-18 and 2018-19, the State spent only ₹18.71 crore and ₹17.18 crore for urban areas, as against the allocated ₹25 crore and ₹26.4 crore respectively.
For rural areas, the funds allocated in these two years were ₹35.5 crore and ₹38 crore respectively, of which only ₹27.52 crore and ₹22.49 crore were spent.
