Funds for Scholarships for Students From Marginalised Communities Underutilised, Govt Data Shows
New Delhi: Funds allocated for students from Scheduled Castes (SC), Other Backward Classes (OBC), Economically Backward Classes (EBC) and Denotified Tribes (DNT) have been underutilised, Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP John Brittas said Thursday (March 12), citing the government’s own figures, revealed in response to a question in Rajya Sabha.
In a written reply to a question on Wednesday (March 11), Ramdas Athawale, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, informed Rajya Sabha about the various scholarship schemes for SC, OBC, EBC and DNT students in higher education, and the allocation and utilisation of the scholarship funds.
“Thousands of crores meant for SC, OBC, EBC and DNT students’ scholarships remain unspent,” Brittas later said in a post on X, sharing the details.
A.Thousands of crores meant for SC, OBC, EBC and DNT students’ scholarships remain unspent.
For SC & OBC scholarships:
2021-22: Rs. 4,446.24 cr spent vs Rs. 6,220.62 cr allocated
2022-23: Rs. 6,372.38 cr vs Rs. 8,165 cr
2023-24 : Rs. 7,762.82 cr vs Rs. 8,874.14 cr
2024-25… pic.twitter.com/h2uw6P61Sr— John Brittas (@JohnBrittas) March 12, 2026
According to the data, the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment was allocated Rs 14,164.42 crore but it only spent Rs 8,679.02 crore in 2024-25.
In 2024-25, Rs 9,163.98 crore was allocated and Rs 8,008.79 crore was spent.
Similarly, Rs 8,874.14 crore was allocated but Rs. 7,762.82 crore was spent in 2023-24, and Rs. 8,165 crore was allocated versus Rs 6,372.38 crore spent in 2022-23. The previous year, 2021-22, Rs 4,446.24 crore was spent against an allocation of Rs 6,220.62 crore, the data showed.
Brittas pointed out that there has been a significant decline in scholarship beneficiaries across categories as well.
The number of SC pre-matric scholarship beneficiaries, as per the official data, he pointed out, fell from 31.22 lakh in 2020-21 to 21.65 lakh in 2024-25 – a drop of almost 10 lakh beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, post-matric beneficiaries belonging to Scheduled Castes declined from 50.16 lakh to 48.04 lakh.
The drop was steeper among OBC, EBC and DNT students: pre-matric beneficiaries fell from 54.95 lakh to 20.61 lakh – a massive decline – while post-matric beneficiaries almost 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,” he said.
Meanwhile, The Hindu reports that the Union social justice ministry plans to raise the eligibility criteria for post-matric scholarship for students from marginalised categories. The annual family income limit to be able to apply is being raised from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh from the 2026-27 fiscal year onwards, the report says.
Informing a departmentally-related parliamentary panel, the government has noted that widespread revisions are being planned for various scholarship schemes administered for students from SC, ST, OBC and DNT communities, the Hindu report said.
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