Parliamentary Oversight: PAC Initiates Review of Centrally Sponsored Welfare Schemes

For an aspirant, this development highlights the crucial role of parliamentary oversight in maintaining fiscal discipline and administrative accountability. The PAC acts as a watchdog, ensuring that the executive remains answerable to the legislature for the expenditure of public money. This process is essential for strengthening the democratic framework, as it promotes transparency and provides a mechanism for course correction in governance. The committee's focus on welfare schemes is particularly significant given the government's emphasis on inclusive growth and the need to bridge the gap between policy formulation and service delivery. UPSC Relevance: This topic is highly relevant for GS Paper II, specifically under the sections of 'Parliamentary Committees' and 'Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections.' Aspirants can use this as a contemporary example of how the PAC exercises its power of 'post-expenditure' scrutiny to ensure accountability in governance. It is useful for answering questions related to the effectiveness of institutional mechanisms in monitoring government performance and the challenges of federal implementation in social sector schemes.