Overview
- India’s Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, said there is no mechanism to record whether large works contracts go to Dalit, Adivasi or OBC‑owned firms.
- Minister of State Tokhan Sahu told Parliament that such details are unavailable because tracking social category is not mandatory for works contracts issued by agencies like the Central Public Works Department.
- Rahul Gandhi, who filed Unstarred Question No. 6264, called the absence of records a system of exclusion and asked why Bahujan entrepreneurs are missing from the biggest public contracts.
- Policy requires 25% of government purchases from small firms with 4% set aside for SC/ST‑owned businesses, yet those targets do not apply to construction and infrastructure works that dominate big-ticket tenders.
- Parliamentary data shows the stakes are large, with 8,402 works contracts worth about Rs 16,587 crore awarded in 2025–26, prompting opposition calls for mandatory tracking and clearer reporting.