Government often cites lack of funds for development projects but there are common instances where funds lie unutilised in several departments. Explain the reasons behind this.

Lack of financial resources and necessary infrastructure remains one of the dominant challenges in implementation of any government scheme.

Prominent examples:

• 73^rd and 74^th constitutional – local bodies have paucity of funds as well as functionaries.
• Gram Nyayalayas – not setup by several states citing lack of funds.
• Opposition of some states to Ayushman Bharat citing lack of funds.

However, deeper analysis shows that for most of these schemes funds lie rotten in the accounts.

Rationale behind it:

• Politicization – major hurdle in implementation, e.g. centre-state tussle in Ayushman Bharat Schemes.
• Lack of political will and administrative apathy.
• Corruption – funds rerouted to other tasks or over expenditure shown.
• Implementation hurdles – e.g. land acquisition may stuck a developmental project.

Thus, often it is not the lack of funds but lack of political will that results in non-implementation or poor implementation of schemes. Scrutiny of accounts by center report of CAG testifies the same.