Scholarship funds for marginalized students underutilized, beneficiaries plunge: Govt data
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowing before a photograph of Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary, April 14, 2025
New Delhi: Government data reveals massive underutilization of funds for scholarships targeting Scheduled Castes (SC), Other Backward Classes (OBC), Economically Backward Classes (EBC), and Denotified Tribes (DNT) students, with beneficiary numbers plummeting across categories, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas highlighted on Thursday (March 12).
Citing a written reply from Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Ramdas Athawale to a March 11 question, Brittas shared the figures on X: "Thousands of crores meant for SC, OBC, EBC and DNT students’ scholarships remain unspent." The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment allocated ₹9,163.98 crore but spent ₹8,008.79 crore in 2024-25; ₹8,874.14 crore versus ₹7,762.82 crore in 2023-24; ₹8,165 crore against ₹6,372.38 crore in 2022-23; and ₹6,220.62 crore allocated but only ₹4,446.24 crore spent in 2021-22.
Brittas flagged steep drops in beneficiaries. SC pre-matric numbers fell from 31.22 lakh (2020-21) to 21.65 lakh (2024-25)—a loss of nearly 10 lakh. SC post-matric dipped from 50.16 lakh to 48.04 lakh. OBC, EBC, and DNT saw sharper declines: pre-matric crashed from 54.95 lakh to 20.61 lakh; post-matric halved from 45.45 lakh to 24.53 lakh.
"Millions of students have simply disappeared from scholarship rolls. For marginalised students, this is not just a statistic – it is lost opportunity," Brittas said.
In a potential shift, The Hindu reports the Union social justice ministry plans to raise post-matric scholarship income limits from ₹2.5 lakh to ₹4.5 lakh starting 2026-27. Broader revisions are underway for SC, ST, OBC, and DNT schemes, per a parliamentary panel briefing.