Only 819 hostels for SC students sanctioned in 13 years; data of 46 years missing: Parliament panel

By Sanjay and Anu Parthiban

NEW DELHI: The central government could sanction only 819 hostels – 391 for girls and 271 for boys in 13 year between 2007-08 to 2020-21 against the target to have a hostel for Scheduled Caste (SC) boys and girls in every block headquarters of low literacy districts, noted a parliamentary committee report in “anguish” on Monday. Of 819 sanctioned hostels under Babu Jagjivan Ram Chhatrawas Yojana (BJRCY) only 662 hostels have been constructed so far. The construction work of 144 hostels is yet to be completed, 13 hostels have been cancelled by states due to various reasons, said standing committee on social justice and empowerment in its presented to Parliament during the ongoing winter session.

The committee “wondered” as to why hostels cannot be planned by department in deficient districts to guide the stakeholders in preparing viable proposals when 100% central assistance is provided for the same. The department informed that the construction of hostels shall be completed within a period of 27 months from the date of sanction of the project.

The BJRCY scheme was first implemented in 1961 and was revised in 2007-08. The scheme for construction of hostels for SC students is implemented by the department of social justice and empowerment of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) with support from state governments, union territory administrations and the central and state universities/ institutions. The scheme aims to enable and encourage SC students to attain quality education.

Data missing

The committee had in November 2021 asked the government to share the data on the number of hostels constructed under the scheme since its inception in 1961. In July 2022, the department of social justice and empowerment in its reply said that “it had been very difficult to keep track of all the records” due to restructuring and re-shaping of the ministries several times in the past and frequent transfer of staff.

Expressing “displeasure over the inability” of the department to provide or retrieve data of hostels constructed from 1961 to 2007 under BJRCY. The committee said that it is “quite unhappy with the casual approach of the department.”

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“It is incomprehensible as to how data of nearly 46 years is missing altogether. The Committee is also surprised to note that hardly any action has been taken by the department on the matter,” panel said in its report adding that the department should ensure that the records are kept digitally so that they do not suffer any such crisis in future.

Revision of BJRCY, budget cuts

The 60 year old scheme of construction of hostels for SC students has been running under the name BJRCY since 2008 and the latest revision was done in 2021-22.

Under the latest guidelines, the budgetary allocation for the BJRCY has been merged with ‘Pradhan Mantri Anusuchit Jaati Abhyuday Yojana’ (PM-AJAY) along with two other Schemes namely Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) and Special Central Assistance to Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCA to SCSP). Questioning the government’s move to merge BJRCY with PM-AJAY and PMAGY, the committee said that the assessment of any scheme would be impossible and reiterated to the government to re-examine notional allocation of each scheme within the merged one.

The department of social justice and empowerment tried to assure the committee that this change would end any limitation of funds for construction of hostels for SC boys and girls. However, the committee members were “surprised” to find the budgetary allocation for 2021-22 has been reduced by Rs 160 crore, as budgetary allocation for PMAGY and SCA to SCSP and actual expenditure under BJRCY added together was Rs 1,960 in 2020-21, whereas for 2021-22 it is only Rs 1,800 crore.

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“Furthermore, the allocation made separately for boys and girls hostels has been clubbed together and a single reduced allocation is being made from 2019-20 onwards,” the report said.

The committee said that the present methodology of earmarking 2% of the funds sanctioned under PM-AJAY for construction/expansion, repair and maintenance and earmarking of 30% of Grants-in-Aid for infrastructure development including hostels is “much in deviation with the established practice and the project of construction of hostels under the BJRCY Scheme for SC boys/girls, which, already, is in need of a focused approach, will lose its pace further.”

The committee also found that after the revision of the scheme in 2018 and 2020 the department has been able to sanction only 62 hostels under the BJCRY scheme which “seems to have hit a roadblock”. The Committee also noted that despite the scheme being in existence for 6 decades, the department has not developed any mechanism which could ensure that the sanctioned hostels are timely constructed.

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Scholarships

The parliament standing committee on social justice and empowerment in its report on 'Demands for Grants (2022-23)' of MoSJE’s department of empowerment of persons with disabilities found that only 16,000 applicants were paid pre-matric Scholarship against the allocated slots of 25,000 in 2021-22.

The department informed the committee that only eight students were selected for 2019-20, six for 2020-21 and 13 for 2021-22, against the 20 scholarships fixed for persons with disabilities under the National Overseas Scholarships (NOS) scheme.

Central University hostels

The poor condition of the hostels at central universities have also been flagged by students several times. Students have been protesting against the deteriorating infrastructure of hostels and have time and again reminded the college administration to renovate and reopen hostels on time for students coming from far-off places. However, students' fight against the lack of basic facilities continue...