The parliamentary standing committee on information technology has rapped the I & B ministry for underutilisation of funds allocated to it in the past two years. The committee was headed by Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and it submitted its second report on demands for grants (2019-20) of the I & B ministry. In the said report, it observed that the ministry’s budgetary estimates were, in many cases, reduced during revision, and remained underutilised even after the reduction. The report was tabled in the Lok Sabha on 12th December.
While the ministry had identified key thrust areas and proposed an outlay of Rs. 1,068 crore for Central Sector Schemes (CSS) for 2019-20, it was downsized by the finance ministry to Rs. 900 crore. The utilisation of funds in respect of the schemes under Prasar Bharati and film sector was far below the targets, the panel noted. For example, Prasar Bharati, which was allocated Rs. 473 crore, could only spend Rs. 27 crore (5.6%) till July 2019. The film sector, with an allocation of Rs. 156 crore, spent Rs. 17 crore which was only 10.17% of the budget.
The parliamentary standing committee also frowned upon the ministry paring its budgetary estimates in 2017-18 and 2018-19, which, it said, would have resulted in downsizing of all major schemes undertaken during these years. It noted with concern that the ministry was not able to utilise even the reduced allocation during 2017-18 and 2018-19. The committee also looked down upon the government’s failure to utilise the funds allocated for implementing Central Sector Schemes (CSS) in the North-East region in 2017-18 and 2018-19. The government clarified that the position was not as bad as was being made out by the committee.