With reference to the funds Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS), which of the following statement are correct? 1) MPLADS funds must be used to create durable assets like physical infrastructuer for health, educaction, etc. 2) A specified portion of each MP’s fund must benefit SC/ST populations. 3) MPLADS funds are sanctioned on yearly basis and the unused funds cannot be carried forward to the next year. 4) The district authority must inspect at least 10% of all works under implementation every year. Select the correct answer using the code given below:

Your answer is D: statements 1, 2 and 4 are correct, and statement 3 is the false one.

• Statement 1 is correct. MPLADS guidelines require funds to create durable community assets, such as buildings, roads and equipment for health, education and similar sectors. Recurring expenditure is not allowed.
• Statement 2 is correct. Of each MP's annual entitlement, at least 15% must go to areas inhabited by Scheduled Castes and 7.5% to areas inhabited by Scheduled Tribes.
• Statement 3 is wrong. MPLADS is an annual entitlement, but unspent balances are carried forward to the next year. The scheme is not lapsable, so the 'cannot be carried forward' claim is the trap.
• Statement 4 is correct. The District Authority must inspect at least 10% of the works under implementation every year.

The core concept is the design of a centrally sponsored, MP-recommended scheme with built-in safeguards for social equity and asset quality. For Mains GS-II, it links to debates on constituency-level discretionary funds and their accountability. Note that MPLADS was suspended for 2020-21 and 2021-22 during COVID, so check the current guidelines if a question asks about present status.

Trap: Candidates tend to reject statement 3 only because they assume all annual schemes lapse, without checking MPLADS's specific non-lapsable feature.