According to the report, many states are behind in conducting audits. In addition, several states have informed the Center that the process was initiated in the past, and in many cases the final report was not submitted to the education ministry.
The social audit is important in detecting irregularities such as fund syphoning and in providing the authorities with feedback on the scheme from the local community.
the Meghalaya government has not submitted the audit report for 2019-20 and Assam’s 2020-21 reports are awaited. Nine states and four UTs have not even initiated social audits for 2021-22.
“During the PAB-PM POSHAN meetings also the states and UTs have been directed to conduct a social audit in all schools covering all districts for the year 2021-22 and also advised to conduct a social audit of the scheme in all the districts every year. You are therefore requested to initiate action to conduct a social audit of PM POSHAN in all districts in your state/UT for the year 2021-22 on a priority basis and as per MoE guidelines and conclude it with a mandatory Public hearing by 30th November 2022,” the ministry told states, as reported .
States which have not carried out social audits in 2021-22 include Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Punjab, Odisha, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh. In the UTs of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry, Ladakh and Lakshadweep.
Additionally, necessary procedures were not followed in the states that have regularly conducted audits. Gujarat is included here.