The allocation for the Department of School Education and Literacy in the Union Human Resource Development Ministry has seen a drastic drop; primarily owing to the government’s decision to pass on 42 per cent of net tax receipts to the States as per the recommendation of the 14th Finance Commission.
With the effective administration of school education essentially a job of the States, this Department is among the sectors that has taken a hit owing to the acceptance of the Finance Commission recommendations. From the revised estimates for 2014-15 of Rs. 46,805 crores, the allocation has dropped to Rs. 42,219 crore. The quantum of the shift in allocation has, however, not been spelt out in the budget documents; so there is no telling how much the States will have to spend on school education.
Stating that significant sums that will be spent by the States on these programmes will ensure a quantum leap in expenditures in these areas (including education), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech urged States to enhance resources effectively in such areas where the Centre is devolving tax money to them.
He also sought to package the drop in allocation as good tidings; stating that in spite of the large increase in devolution to States, which implies reduced fiscal space for the Centre in the same proportion, the government is committed to the welfare of the poor and the neo-middle class.
The overall allocation for education sector, including higher education, is Rs. 68,968 crore.
Though some of the Indian Institutes of Technology — announced in recent budgets — are still nowhere near completion with difficulties in finding a permanent address and enough faculty, new IITs have been lined up.
Accordingly, the Higher Education Department allocation has been increased from the 2014-15 revised estimate of Rs.23,700 crore to Rs. 26,855 crore. This is a tad higher than the original budgetary allocation for the current year which stood at Rs. 27,656 crore.
