Question : Grant for Consumer Awareness

(a) whether the Union Government releases any grant-in-aid to the State Governments/Union Territories for undertaking consumer awareness activities;
(b) if so, the details of the amount of funds released to Maharashtra under the said scheme since the year 2017 till date;
(c) whether the Government of Maharashtra has sent/forwarded any proposals to the Union Government for releasing the numbers of various organizations/ agencies/NGOs which have PFMS registration and if so, the present status thereof;
(d) whether the Union Government has approved the said proposals; and
(e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

THE MINISTER OF
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) to (e) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
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STATEMENT REFERRED IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.*31 FOR 20.07.2021 REGARDING GRANT FOR CONSUMER AWARENESS.
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(a) to (e): The Union Government, under Consumer Awareness Scheme, has a component of releasing grants-in-aid to the State Government based on receipt of proposal specifying the activities to be carried out, funds required and utilization certificates for the grants released in previous years subject to availability of funds.

A letter was received from State Government of Maharashtra with information of 103 entities. However, the details of implementing agency of the State Government of Maharashtra and the activities proposed to be carried out along with requirement of funds were not received. The State Government of Maharashtra was requested to provide the specific proposals and pending utilizations certificates vide letter No. K-2/2/2021 dated 2nd March 2021. Therefore, for want of specific proposal and pending utilization certificates for the funds released earlier, no funds under the Consumer Awareness Scheme could be released to the Government of Maharashtra from the year 2017 till date.

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