The budgetary allocation for scholarship of minority students stood at Rs 3,183.24 crore against the expenditure of Rs 1,396.01 crore for the year 2024-25, revealing a pattern of shrinking access to such financial aids coupled with the government’s inability to effectively utilise the funds allocated to it over the years.In a reply given by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju in the Rajya Sabha recently, he noted that the budget allocation for scholarship of minority students stood at Rs 5,029.00 crore and the actual expenditure fell to Rs 3,998.56 crore in 2020-21.”In 2022-23, against a budgetary allocation of Rs 5,020.50 crore, the actual expenditure fell sharply to only Rs 837.68 crore. In 2023-24, against the budget allocation of Rs 3,097.60 crore, actual expenditure was only Rs 1,032.65 crore. In 2024-25, despite a budgetary allocation of Rs 3,183.24 crore, actual expenditure stood at Rs 1396.01 crore,” the reply stated.The minister’s reply also stated that scholarship schemes specifically targeted at minority students have not been approved for implementation beyond 2021–2022, with subsequent disbursements limited only to “committed liabilities”.The data placed on record demonstrates a drastic fall in the number of scholarships sanctioned after 2021-22 across states. For instance, under the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme, Uttar Pradesh saw beneficiaries fall from over 8.4 lakh in 2021–2022 to just 40,303 in 2022-2023. In Haryana, it fell from 25,011 in 2021-22 to 994 in 2022-23. In Punjab, it fell from around 50,000 in 2021-22 to around 15,000 in 2022-23.Rijiju also said that the Begum Hazrat Mahal National Scholarship for girls has been subsumed into other schemes, and that Pre-Matric scholarships have been restricted only to classes 9 and 10 from 2022-23 on the ground that elementary education is covered under the Right to Education framework.Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, who had asked the ministry to provide details of the scholarship schemes currently available for minority students at all stages of education, said the government reply exposes a serious and continuing gap between budgetary allocation and actual expenditure by the ministry.”While substantial funds were allocated by Parliament, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has been unable to utilise them effectively. Such persistent underutilisation raises serious concerns regarding administrative efficiency, programme design, and policy prioritisation within the ministry.“The issue is therefore not merely one of allocation, but of the government’s capacity and willingness to implement schemes effectively so that intended beneficiaries actually receive support,” he added.