Jammu and Kashmir has received lowest funds under the centrally sponsored Integrated Child Protection Scheme during the past two financial years, an official said.
He said that Jammu and Kashmir received Rs 1.13 crore for the financial year 2015-16 and Rs 43 lakh for the year 2016-2017. “This is the lowest amount any state has received from Government of India under the ICPS,” he said.
He said that from 2009 to 2014, the GoI did not sanction any funds to Jammu and Kashmir for the ICPS scheme. “In 2013, Jammu and Kashmir signed a Memorandum of Understanding with GoI to implement the ICPS in the state,” the official added.
It may be recalled that in August 2014, Union minister for women and child development Maneka Gandhi informed the RajyaSabha that no proposal had been received from the Jammu and Kashmir government for the release of grants under the ICPS during the past six years.
Jammu and Kashmir is the only state that has failed to implement the scheme, despite the fact that 90 percent of the funds for the scheme come from the GoI. The other states have to fund 40 percent of the expenditure, said a source.
“The biggest reason for the failure of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme was that the scheme was being administered through Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) manned by general administrative officers. It was only last year that ICPS was separated from ICDS,” the source added.
He said that during the past four years the ICDS failed to constitute any statutory structure like Juvenile Justice Boards and Child Welfare Committees (CWC) at district level as required by the law.
HilalBhat, mission director ICPS said, “The scheme was not utilized in Jammu and Kashmir so the funds were not coming. It was after 2013 when the state signed the MoU with GoI that funds started coming.”
“J&K did receive lowest share of funds as compared to other states, but we are expecting good funds for the financial year 2018-19 as the scheme has been implemented,” he added.