Tamil Nadu: CAG finds payment delays, other irregularities in SC, ST scholarship schemes

A Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) audit has find that many eligible Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in Tamil Nadu are not included in the scholarship schemes. The audit report also found that several payments were delayed or wrongly made as reported by K Nitika Shivani of Careers360.

The CAG audit covered the implementation of the Pre-Matric and Post-Matric Scholarship schemes offered by Tamil Nadu’s Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department between the years 2017 to 18 and 2022 to 23. The department was funded by both the central and the state governments.

These schemes were meant to provide financial support to SC and ST students who are studying before and after class 10. The CAG has viewed more than 9,000 scholarship applications and verified data from Tamil Nadu’s Unified State Scholarship Portal (SSP) to finalise the audit report.

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Missed scholarships

The audit found that nearly half of the schools that were covered in eight selected districts did not even use the Pre-Matric Scholarship scheme between 2019 and 2022. During the same period around 39 percent of schools did not use the Post-Matric Scholarship scheme. A good number of eligible students also did not receive scholarships. 

Between 2019 and 2023, 21 percent to 52 percent of eligible SC students were left out of the Pre-Matric Scholarship, while 20 percent to 29 percent did not receive the Post-Matric Scholarship. Among ST students, 35 percent to 55 percent were again not under the Pre-Matric Scholarship and 30 percent to 42 percent were not given the Post-Matric Scholarship, reports K Nitika Shivani.

The CAG audit has found a link between the low coverage and less publicity, along with the failure to identify all eligible students. The audit also found that 2,569 of 9,076 applications, or 28 percent, were approved under the scheme without asking for proper mandatory income or community certificates.

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Scholarship payments delayed

In 36,510 cases between 2017 and 2023, Tamil Nadu scholarship payments were delayed by Rs 7.28 crore. Another Rs 1.61 crore that was given to 3,530 students remained unpaid after payments were returned due to issues with their bank accounts.

K Nitika Shivani reports that “The CAG also found duplicate payments and other irregularities. In one case, 2,576 Scheduled Caste Converts to Christianity (SCC) students received Rs 3.64 crore from central funds even though they were not eligible.”

The audit recommended better verification, faster payments, improved outreach and a real-time system to track applications and grievances. It also asked for safeguards against duplicate payments and recovery of money that has been wrongly disbursed. The Tamil Nadu government told the Comptroller and Auditor General of India that action would be taken and the situation would be fixed accordingly.