The Union Budget has allocated the Ministry of Minority Affairs ₹3,350 crore for the financial year 2025-26, which is a 5% increase from the Budget Estimate of 2024-25 at ₹3,183.24 crore.

There is a major hike of approximately ₹1,000 crore in grants-in-aid to States, which was increased from ₹527.12 crore in 2024-25 to ₹1,518.31 crore in 2025-26 but the Budget Estimate grants-in-aid to Union Territory governments was slashed from ₹30.06 crore in 2024-25 to ₹10.06 crore in 2025-26. The Revised Estimates for the two in 2024-25 remained ₹518.27 crore and ₹21.05 crore, respectively.

Also, there is a sharp dip in budgetary allocation in education empowerment for minorities as the Budget for this year is ₹678.03 crore against the last year’s ₹1,575.72 crore. Schemes like pre- and post-matriculation scholarships, Maulana Azad National Fellowship (MANF), free coaching and interest subsidy on education loan comes under the total education empowerment of minorities. The revised Budget for these schemes remained ₹517.72 crore in 2024-25.

The education schemes for madrasas and minorities was slashed to just ₹0.01 crore in 2025-26 from ₹2 crore in 2024-25. The revised Budget for the same was ₹0.01 cr in 2024-25.

The government has also slashed the funds for the central sector schemes and projects that include education empowerment, skill development and livelihood, special programme for minorities and Prime Minister Virasat Ka Samvardhan (PM-VIKAS) scheme. In 2024-25, the Budget for these was ₹2,120.72 crore, which was reduced to ₹1,237.32 crore in 2025-26. The revised Budget for these schemes in financial year 2024-25 was ₹770 crore.

In 2025-26, there is a significant hike in funds allotment for schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram. The Budget for the same was ₹910 crore in 2024-25 and it has now increased to ₹1,913.97 crore in 2025-26. The revised Budget for the same was ₹908.90 crore in 2024-25. The total umbrella programmes for the development of minorities also saw a significant hike from ₹912.90 crore in 2024-25 to ₹1,913.98 crore in 2025-26. The Revised Estimate for the same was ₹908.91 crore.

New Delhi:

A case has been filed in connection with the alleged minority scholarship scam, in which 830 “fake” institutions were benefitting, causing a loss of about Rs 144 crore to the Ministry of Minority Affairs during 2017-22, officials said on Tuesday.  

The FIR is filed against unidentified persons of banks, institutions and others under IPC sections of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said.  

“Considering various reports received on embezzlement of funds under the Scholarship Schemes, the Ministry has engaged National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) to carry out Third Party Evaluation of the Scholarship Schemes. Besides, the Ministry also carried out evaluation through National Scholarship Portal (NSP) by generating Red Flags on doubtful Institutions/ Applicants,” the Ministry had said in its complaint which has now become part of the FIR.

It said a total of 1,572 institutes were identified for evaluation based on red flags generated on NSP.  “Out of 1,572 institutions from 21 states, 830 institutions are found either non-operational or fake or partial fake,” it said.

The ministry has estimated the loss to the exchequer by counting financial implications for the year 2017-18 to 2021-22 for the institutes that are identified as fake and found a loss of Rs 144.33 crore to the exchequer, against these 830 institutes, it said.

The ministry said it was able to detect the loss for the period during which digitized data on NSP was available and the scam could be going on much prior to 2017-18.

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