Merely looking at the original budget allocations can be very misleading. We must follow up to see the actual expenditure

If we look at the last three years of this scheme then data is available for actual spending in 33 months out of 36, which is likely to be quite close for the entire period. This shows that the allocation was Rs 60 crore while the spending was less than Rs 2 crore, showing a total spending of just 3% or so.

While the allocation for these three years cannot be called adequate, but still within the limits of the resources that were available, if the entire fund had been used properly, with the participation of transgender communities and those who have experience of working with them, identifying vulnerable people within them, then it is likely that in terms of good learning experiences as well as some genuine welfare among a few thousand vulnerable and needy people, something of value could have been done under this scheme, but clearly this opportunity has been missed so far.

This year, in financial year 2023-24, hopefully some remedial action can be taken as the highest budget of Rs 53 crore is available this year. One hopes that the same experience as that of the previous three years will not be repeated and there will be some important work of value to show for this scheme’s performance this year.
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*Honorary convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include ‘A Day in 2071’ and ‘Man over Machine’

Courtesy: https://www.counterview.net