The Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry was allocated 12% more in the Budget Estimate (BE) for 2022-2023 than 2021-2022 with ₹13,134.93 crore for its two departments.
The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, which handles welfare schemes for the Scheduled Castes, drug de-addiction programmes and schemes for senior citizens, among others, was allocated ₹11,922.51 crore, up from ₹10,517.62 crore in 2021-2022 BE and ₹10,180 crore in RE 2021-2022.
The allocation for the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities went up slightly from ₹1,171.77 crore in 2021-2022 BE to ₹1,212.42 crore in 2022-2023.
Some Central schemes of the Department of SJ&E saw a cut including Scholarships for Higher Education for Young Achievers Scheme (SHREYAS) for SCs that had its allocation reduced from ₹450 crore in BE 2021-2022 to ₹364 crore.
The allocation for SHREYAS for the OBCs and the Economically Backward Classes was also reduced from ₹130 crore in 2021-2022 to ₹80 crore. In total, allocation for the Central sector schemes and projects was reduced from ₹1,395 crore in 2021-2022 to ₹969.50 crore in 2022-2023 BE.