Minority Welfare in Decline: Budget Allocations, Utilisation, and the SDG Paradox

SDGs and the Budget for Minorities:

Ours is an unequal society. There is extreme economic inequality as well as sharp social inequality in the Indian society. The Indian Constitution does make provisions for the socially and educationally weaker sections of the society. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are two clearly identified marginalised caste groups. We also have De-notified and Nomadic Tribes (DNT) and religious minorities who lack in development and do not enjoy same level of access to the government’s schemes and programmes. Then there are gender divisions in a highly patriarchal society.

A report published by the Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO) of the NITI Ayog in 2021 highlights the need for inclusion of the excluded communities.[1] The report suggests that STs, SCs and Muslims have lower economic assets than the average households. The report identifies Muslims along with other religious minorities as one of the excluded groups (page 15). With 14.2% share in the population, Muslims are the largest religious minorities of the country. The community lags behind the general population on various development indicators.

For example, literacy rate of Muslims is 68.5% compared to the 74% of overall literacy rate in the year 2011.  The female literacy rate among Muslims is also lower at 62% in comparison with 65.56% of the total female literacy in the country. However, as per recent PLFS 2023-24, the literacy rate (for the age group 5 years and above) of the community has increased to 77.6% compared to 79.7% for the country as a whole.

The ratio of Muslim children attending pre-school is also low at 33.8% as compared to the overall national average of 40.1% (NFHS-5)[2]. Muslims who have completed 12 or more years of schooling is also less at 11.4% compared to 16.16% of the total population in the country.

Though the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of the Muslim women still higher at 2.36 compared to 1.99 for all Indian women, it has declined fastest for the Muslims compared to all other groups. The Infant mortality rate (IMR) and mortality rates of children under 5 years of the age is also higher among the Muslim community at 33.3 and 39.2 respectively compared to national average of 26.6 and 31.5 (NFHS 5)

As far as employment is concerned, majority of the Muslim populations are engaged in self-employment. There is low labour force participation rate (LFPR) and workerpopulation ratio (LPR) among Muslim men and women compared to overall LFPR and WPR. While LFPR is 60.1% and WPR is 58.2% in India as pre the PLFS 2023-24, its 55% and 52.3% respectively among the Muslims. 62% of all employed Muslims are in self-employment compared to 58.4%. The difference is much sharper in the urban areas where 50.5% employed Muslims are in self-employment compared to 40.4% of all employed being in self-employment at the national level.

The Indian Constitution provides various safeguards to the religious minorities. There are separate ministries catering to the development needs various marginalized groups. Ministry of Minority Affairs was carved out from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as a separate ministry in 2006. “The mandate of the Ministry includes formulation of overall policy and planning, coordination, evaluation and review of the regulatory framework and development programmes for the benefit of the minority communities.”[3]

As the table below shows, the Ministry of Minority Affairs budget saw a major decline in the year 2023-24 and has remained almost same since then at little more that Rs. 3000 crores. In the year 2025-26 the ministry has been allocated a budget of Rs. 3350 crores.

Table1: Budget for Ministries/Departments for the marginlaised sections (Rs. Crores)

Year	Budget Estimate (BE)	AE	Gross actual expenditure	AE/RE as % of BE	Gross actual expenditure as % of BE
2020-21	5029	3920.29	3998.57	77.95	79.51
2021-22	4810.77	4323.63	4325.24	89.87	89.9
2022-23	5020.5	802.69	837.68	15.99	16.68
2023-24	3097.6	154.17	1032.64	4.98	33.33
2024-25	3138.24	1868.18*		59.53
2025-26	3350

However, more serious concern emerging from the above table is the under-utilisation of the allocated budget to the Ministry of Minority Welfare. Year after year the actual expenditure is lower than the budget estimates for the ministry. This under-utilisation indicates not just the lack of effective implementation but also an indifference towards the minority communities. The utilization of budget in the Ministry of Minority Affairs in the year 2022-23 was just 16% of the allocated budget and in the year 2023-24 it has further declined to abysmally low at less than 5%. However the gross actual expenditure (without adjusting for the recoveries) of the Ministry during the year 2023-24 was Rs. 1032.64 crores, which is 33.33% of the budget allocation during the year which is still very low.

Major schemes for the marginalised sections

Earlier the Union government announced discontinuing some of the schemes for the religious minorities. The government discontinued the Maulana Azad National Fellowship, PadhoPardesh, Free Coaching and Allied Schemes (Naya Savera) and Nai Udan (support for students clearing prelims of UPSC and state commissions exams) from the year 2022-23. The pre-matric scholarship for the students of classes I-VII was also discontinued, making it available only for classes XI and X. Additionally the skilling schemes (Skill Development Initiative, USTTAD, NAI Manzil, Hamari Dharohar and Scheme for Leadership Development of Minority women) under Ministry ofMinority Affairs have been amalgamated under one scheme called the PM Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PMVIKAS).[4]

Total budget for the central sector schemes of the Ministry of Minority Affairs declined in 2025-26 while the budget for centrally sponsored schemes of the ministry has increased from the previous year BE. Overall budget for the educational empowerment by the Ministry of Minority Affairs declined from Rs. 1689 crores in 2023-24 BE to Rs. 1575 crores in 2024-25 BE to Rs. 678 crores in the year 2025-26 BE, while there is now negligible budget allocation (just Rs. 3 crores) for the Skill Development and Livelihoods schemes by the ministry. However, the budget of the Prime Minister Jan Vikas Karyakram, a scheme of the Ministry of Minority Affairs, has not declied and remains almost same as previous year.

The Ministry of Minority Affairs has provided the allocations and actual expenditure under each of its scheme on their website.[5]  The budget for pre matric scholarship for minorities has obviously declined from Rs. 1425 crores in 2022-23 BE to Rs. 433 crores in 2023-24 BE and Rs. 326 crores in 2024-25 BE and to merely Rs. 195 crores in 2025-26 BE. Budget for the post matric scholarship increased from Rs. 515 crores in 2022-23 BE to Rs. 1065.00 in the year 2023-24 BE and to Rs. 1145.38 crores in 2024-25 BE but has declined to just Rs. 413 crores in 2025-26 budget. However, the actual expenditures on both schemes have been very low compared to the allocations in the year 2022-23 and 2023-24. Similarly, the budget for the skill development programmes which are now merged in one scheme called PM Vikas was Rs. 290 crores in the year 2023-24 but there has been no expenditure under the scheme as per the data provided by the Ministry on its website[6]. 

Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK)

PMJVK is a centrally sponsored scheme under the Ministry of Minority Affairs. It’s an area development programme, aimed to address the socio-economic and infrastructural deficits in identified Minority Concentrated Areas (MCAs). Budget for PMJVK has increased in the year 2025-26 BE to Rs. 1913.97 crores from Rs. 912.98 crores in 2024-25 BE. However, the actual expenditure under this scheme has also been extremely low in the previous years. The actual expenditure in the year 2023-24 was a meagre Rs. 198.23 crores against budget allocation of Rs. 600 crores. While in the year 2022-23 the expenditure under the scheme was just Rs. 222.26 crores against the allocation of Rs. 1650 crores, utilising merely 13.47% of the allocated budget. The utilisation of the budget of PMJVK has been quite good during the 2017-18 to 2021-22, indicating it to be a successful programme.[7]

Prime Minister 15 Point Programme

A programme for the overall development and empowerment of the minorities was being considered since the late 1980s and early 1990s, but it could not be materialised for long. Again, a need to have a fresh look on the problems of the minority communities and to empower them “to access facilities and opportunities available to all in the public and private sector for overall socio-economic development at par with the rest of the communities and participate actively in the rapid socio-economic development of the country” was felt. Finally in 2005, the Prime Minister New 15 Point Programme was initiated with the following objectives[8]:

• Enhancing opportunities for education;
• Ensuring an equitable share for minorities in economic activities and employment, through existing and new schemes, enhanced credit support for self-employment, and recruitment to State and Central Government jobs;
• Improving the conditions of living of minorities by ensuring an appropriate share for them in infrastructure development schemes; and
• Prevention and control of communal disharmony and violence.

At the time of launching of the PM’s New 15-PP, there were 24 schemes/ programmes/ initiatives of 11 Ministries/ Departments. However, over a period of time, some of the scheme/programmes/initiatives have either been discontinued or have reached saturation level. Presently 20 schemes/ programmes/ initiatives are covered under PM’s New 15-PP[9].

Earlier the Ministry of Minority Affairs would collect information form the concerned ministries/departments and provide data on the progress made on each of the programmes included in the PM 15 PP programme in its annual report. However, after the year 2019-20, the annual reports of the Ministry have stopped reporting on the progress made under the PM 15 point programme.

The slogan of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 goals adopted by the United Nations, which are to be achieved by all the member countries by 2030, is “Leave No One Behind.” It is part of the three guiding principles of the UN’s universal values to achieve the SDGs.

“No One Leaves Behind,” as a transformational value, “represents the unequivocal commitment of all UN Member States to eradicate poverty in all its forms, end discrimination and exclusion, and reduce the inequalities and vulnerabilities that leave people behind and undermine the potential of individuals and humanity as a whole.”[10]

The Indian government has shown its commitment to achieving the SDGs. NITI Aayog developed the country-specific indicators and released an annual report on the achievements of SDGs for each of 17 goals, for all the states. According to the latest NITI Aayog report, the country scored 71 out of 100 on the SDG index (2023-24). The country scored low on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG-4 (Quality Education), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequality).[11]

Achievements of SDGs will depend significantly on the empowerment of the socially marginalised groups like dalits, tribals, de-notified and nomadic tribes, religious minorities, people with disability (PWD) and women and girls. There is a need to focus on the empowerment of the people at the margin to “leave no one behind.” This also requires providing budgetary support to the marginalised people. Significantly lowered budget of the Ministry of Minority Affairs since 2023-24 and extremely low utilization of the allocated budget, which started from 2022-23, are not in accord with the countries commitment to achieve the SDGs by the year 2023.

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[1]DMEO, NITI, 2022, Social Inclusion, available on: https://dmeo.gov.in/sites/default/files/2022-10/Thematic-report_Social-Inclusion_14102022-%20Final.pdf

[2]https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR375/FR375.pdf

[3]https://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/show_content.php?lang=1&level=1&ls_id=37&lid=36

[4] Answer to Lok Sabha question by the Minister of Minority Affairs in the Lok Sabha on 20.07.2023 (unstarred question no 37), available on:  https://sansad.in/getFile/loksabhaquestions/annex/1712/AU37.pdf?source=pqals

[5] https://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/show_content.php?lang=1&level=1&ls_id=555&lid=343

[6] https://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/WriteReadData/RTF1984/1724233714.pdf

[7] https://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/WriteReadData/RTF1984/1686734058.pdf

[8] Min of Minority Affairs, Annual Report, 2019-20 available on: https://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/WriteReadData/RTF1984/1658732073.pdf

[9] https://www.minorityaffairs.gov.in/WriteReadData/RTF1984/1658732073.pdf

[10] https://unsdg.un.org/2030-agenda/universal-values/leave-no-one-behind

[11] https://sdgindiaindex.niti.gov.in/#/ranking