Funds released for POSHAN, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao schemes underutilised: Centre
According to the WCD data, of the ₹5,31,279.08 lakh released for POSHAN Abhiyan between 2018-19 and 2020-21, only ₹2,98,555.92 lakh has been utilised. Of the ₹12, 359.65 lakh released for Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme in 2019-20, only ₹7,409.85 lakh has been utilised
Funds released for the Union government’s flagship programmes — POSHAN Abhiyaan and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao — remained underutilised, according to data shared by the women and child development (WCD) ministry in Parliament on Friday.
In a written reply to a question seeking details of funds released and utilised for various schemes being implemented for empowerment of women and development of children in the country, WCD minister Smriti Irani tabled the data in the Lok Sabha.
According to the WCD data, of the ₹5,31,279.08 lakh released for POSHAN Abhiyan -- aimed at improving nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers -- between 2018-19 and 2020-21, only ₹2,98,555.92 lakh has been utilised. The data was collected from across 36 states and Union territories in the country.
Similarly, of the ₹12, 359.65 lakh released for Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme, which aims at addressing declining child sex ratio (CSR) and related issues of empowerment of girls and women over a life cycle continuum, in 2019-20, only ₹7,409.85 lakh has been utilised.
In terms of state-wise data, Dadra Nagar Haveli utilised only ₹3 lakh out of ₹25 lakh released to it for Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao during this period while Goa utilised only ₹4 lakh out of ₹25 lakh released to it. Only Sikkim utilised 100% funds released to it for the scheme in 2019-20, WCD data said.
For the POSHAN Scheme, none of the states and UTs utilised 100% funds released to it between 2018-19 and 2020-21. Chandigarh utilised ₹513.96 lakh out of ₹1,099.87 lakh released to it during this period; Chhattisgarh utilised ₹6,505.25 lakh out of ₹12,137.21 lakh released to it; and West Bengal did not utilise any amount out of ₹26,751.08 lakh released to it during this period, the data revealed.
The matter of underutilisation of funds released by the WCD ministry for various schemes has also been raised by a Parliamentary Standing Committee led by BJP Rajya Sabha memberVinay Sahasrabuddhe in its 333rd report titled “Action Taken by the Government on the Observations/Recommendations contained in the Three Hundred and Twenty Sixth Report on the Demands For Grants (2021-22) of the Ministry of Women and Child Development” submitted in both the Houses in March this year, and again on November 30.
“The Committee recommends that the Ministry should look into this matter seriously and to exercise financial prudence and use the allocated funds optimally and judiciously and also provide the state-wise list for underutilisation of funds along with the reasons, for other schemes like Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao etc. Unless the utilisation of funds on its key schemes goes up, the allocation has little meaning,” the committee recommended.
In its response, the WCD ministry told the committee, “In order to efficiently utilise the funds allocated under various heads to the fullest extent by achieving results up to the grassroots level, ministry of women and child development has designed ‘SAKSHAM ANGANWADI and POSHAN 2.0’ for 2021-22 to 2025-26 (five years) with the ‘outcome based monitoring framework with respective indicators for the year 2021-22 is also indicated in the Scheme’s EFC.”
“It has been observed that the Ministry has stated the reasons for gross underutilisation of funds for the scheme of POSHAN Abhiyaan only, while the reasons for underutilisation of funds for other schemes like Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao etc. have been left out,” the committee said.