Panaji: The Union tribal affairs ministry in a letter to the Goa government has observed that despite the guidelines issued by the NITI Aayog, the states are not allocating adequate funds under the tribal sub-plan (TSP) and raised the concern that even these under-allocated funds are not getting fully spent.
As per the 2011 Census, the scheduled tribe (ST) population comprises 10.23 per cent of Goa’s population. However, the state government has consistently failed to allocate proportionate funds under the tribal sub-plan.
The figures for the last three financial years indicate that this allocation of funds under the TSP never crossed above 5.2 per cent when it must be 10.23 per cent of the total budget size of the state.
The letter sent by the economic advisor of the Union ministry of tribal affairs Athira S Babu in July to the principal secretary/secretary (finance department) and the principal secretary/secretary (tribal welfare) of the Goa government stated that it is also observed that apart from a handful of states, the other states and Union territories are not making available the TSP allocation and expenditure details in public domain through MIS or by incorporating the details in the state budgets or both.
“The bifurcation of fund flows to different TSP areas has also not been shown in almost all state budgets. It further observed from the information submitted by the states and UTs that the line departments of many states and UTs are not spending the state TSP allocation through the dedicated TSP minor heads. Besides, many states are allocating TSP as a percentage of total budgetary allocations rather than as a percentage of total scheme allocations, even after the merger of plan and non-plan,” the letter stated.
The economic advisor further said that it is also observed that the TSP allocation figures of states submitted to the ministry are not sum of state budgetary allocations and the central assistance which leads to double counting issues and affects the data quality.
“Further, spending for tribal welfare from the flagship programmes of states is also not clear from the information received from states. The quality of TSP expenditure also may have to be looked into as it is observed that at least in some instances, it is mostly spent as revenue expenditure even when the work mentioned is infrastructure projects or public works,” it stated.
The ministry has asked the state government to review the TSP allocation and expenditure of the state with respect to the issues flagged in the letter and take suitable action where deemed necessary.
