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The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment has achieved its highest-ever expenditure of Rs 11,810.82 crore during the financial year 2025-26. This represents a nearly 14 per cent increase over the expenditure of Rs 10,409.00 crore incurred in FY 2024-25, reflecting the Department’s strong focus on timely utilisation of funds for welfare-oriented schemes, according to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. “During FY 2025-26, the Department has also recorded the highest-ever expenditure on welfare schemes for Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes,” it said in a statement. The government said it has similarly posted record expenditure in schemes relating to Drug Demand Reduction, welfare of Sanitation Workers, welfare of Senior Citizens, welfare of Transgender persons, and welfare of persons engaged in Beggary. The record expenditure achieved in FY 2025-26 underlines the Government’s commitment to social justice, empowerment and inclusive development for disadvantaged and vulnerable communities across the country. Meanwhile, as many as 349 Divyang-friendly training centres across the country imparted skill training and certified 1,883 people during 2025-26. Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Virendra Kumar, in a reply to a query in the Parliament last month, shared data indicating that in Financial Year 2025-26, as many as 2,395 Divyangjan (differently-abled persons) were trained by these centres and of these 1,883 were certified. The data showed that during this period, Madhya Pradesh topped among all states by imparting training to 947 Divyangjan, of which 761 were certified finally. Minister Virendra Kumar said the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities is providing skill training to Persons with disabilities (PwD) through empanelled government organisations and NGOs under the National Action Plan for Skill Development of Persons with Disabilities to enable them to have gainful employment and become self-reliant.