New education policy to focus on research; INR 400 cr. allocated for building world-class institutes

New Delhi, July 5 (PTI): Setting up of National Research Foundation (NRF), adoption of a New Education Policy and allocation of over INR 400 crore for building world-class institutes are among the budgetary announcements made for the education sector on Friday.

INR 94,853.64 crore outlay has been earmarked for the education sector in 2019-20 fiscal, an increase of over 13 per cent from the revised estimates of 2018-19. In the last budget, then finance minister Arun Jaitley had allocated INR 85,010 crore for the education sector which was later revised to INR 83,625.86 crore.

Presenting the first Budget of the NDA government in its second term, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced ‘Study in India’ programme aimed at attracting foreign students to the country.

She said the government will bring in a new national education policy to transform India’s higher education system into one of the best in the world.

The policy proposes major changes in both school and higher education, improved governance and focus on research and innovation, for which a National Research Foundation (NRF) would be set up to coordinate and promote research in the country, Sitharaman said.

“The NRF will ensure that the overall research ecosystem in the country is strengthened with focus on identified thrust areas relevant to our national priorities and towards basic science without duplication of effort and expenditure,” the minister explained.

Sitharaman said funds available with all ministries will be integrated in the NRF and would be adequately supplemented with additional funds.

While INR 38,317.01 crore has been allocated in the Budget for higher education, INR 56,536.63 crore has been earmarked for school education. Also, INR 30,000 crore has made available for higher education institutes using the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) funding mechanism, the HRD ministry said.

However, the outlay for the University Grants Commission saw a decline compared to last financial year.

A total of INR 4,600.66 crore has been allocated for the UGC, as against the 2018-19 revised estimates of INR 4,687.23 crore. The initial outlay in the last fiscal was INR 4,722.75 crore.

Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ thanked the finance minister for giving priority to education sector and overall development of students. He also asserted that aspirations of all stakeholders in education sector would be met by this Budget.

“I am happy over the increased allocation of budget in the education sector. Creation of National Research Foundation would play a key role in coordinating the research efforts of all ministries,” he told reporters.

Support to IITs, Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), Scheme for transformational and advanced research in Sciences (STARS), Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration(SPARC), Impactful Policy Research in Social Science (IMPRESS), are among the schemes which have got considerable allocations in the budget.

The other schemes which got substantial allocation include, implementation of the IMPRINT Research Initiative (Impacting Research Innovation and Technology), Study in India and National Mission in Education through information and communication technology.

The budgetary outlay for the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) is INR 6,409.95 crore, for Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) INR 445.53 crore and and INR 899.22 crore for the Indian Institutes of Science, Education and Research (IISERs).

Sitharaman said massive online open courses through SWAYAM initiative have helped bridge the digital divide for disadvantaged section of the student community. The government initiative aims at taking the best teaching and learning resources to all, including the most disadvantaged by bridging the digital divide.

To upgrade the quality of teaching, the Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) programme in higher education was started, aimed at tapping the global pool of scientists and researchers, the finance minister said.

The IMPRINT or IMPacting Research INnovation and Technology scheme began as a pan-IIT and Indian Institute of Science joint initiative to develop a roadmap for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges in selected domains needed by the country, she said.

The minister said it is because of this that higher education institutions are now becoming the centres of innovation.

Around 15% hike in Tribal Affairs Ministry budget, focus on critical infra projects

The budgetary allocation for the Tribal Affairs Ministry for 2019-20 has been hiked by around 15 per cent, with the central government focusing on critical infrastructure projects for the welfare of Scheduled Tribes.

However, the budgetary allocation for tribal education saw a marginal increment — from INR 1,953.03 crore in 2018-19 to INR 1,953.50 crore in 2019-20.

The government has earmarked INR 6,814.96 crore for the ministry as compared to INR 6,000 crore in 2018-19.

Grants under proviso to Article 275 (1) of the Constitution have been increased from INR 1,820 crore to INR 2,662.55 crore — an increment of over 46 per cent.

Under this provision, grants are given to 23 states having notified Scheduled Tribes (STs) and four tribal-majority states for creating critical infrastructural projects in tribal areas for raising the level of administration of scheduled areas.

Grant-in-aid for state governments has been increased from INR 4,946.74 crore to INR 5,659.24 crore. However, the provision for Union Territory governments has been reduced from INR 1.02 crore to just INR 3 lakh.

The provision for the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojana has been hiked from INR 374.97 crore to INR 406.52 crore — an increase of 8.4 per cent.

Under the scheme, grant-in-aid is given to states concerned for the development of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) in a comprehensive manner while retaining their culture and heritage.

Also, as a measure of social safety for minor forest produce (MFP) gatherers, who are mainly STs, fair returns are ensured for identified MFPs collected by them, along with necessary infrastructure at local level.

The allocation for scholarships to ST students for higher education and overseas studies remains unchanged at INR 102 crore.

The monetary support for tribal institutions, including the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) — responsible for development and marketing of tribal products — and voluntary organisations working for Scheduled Tribes, has been increased from INR 72.5 crore to INR 83 crore.

‘Insipid’ budget with no relief for any section — Congress

New Delhi, July 5 (IANS): The Congress on Friday dubbed the first Union Budget of the Modi 2.0 government as “insipid and opaque”, saying it had not revealed any financial data or allocations, had no relief for various sections of people, or mentioned measures to help farmers.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, former Finance Minister P Chidamabaram said: “Budget 2019-20 is an insipid budget. The Finance Minister’s speech was an unusually opaque exercise.”

“Short sentences that do not explain what they are trying to do. This budget of 2019-20 is a monotonous budget. Has there ever been a Budget speech that does not disclose the total revenue, the total expenditure, the fiscal deficit, the revenue deficit, the additional revenue mobilisation or the financial concessions?

“Has there ever been a budget speech that does not disclose the allocations to important programmes like MGNREGA, the mid-day meal scheme, healthcare, etc. and to vulnerable sections like SC, ST, minorities, women etc? We are shocked by this departure from the usual practice,” he said.

Chidambaram said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman should have been transparent about how much revenue the government expects to raise with the raise in taxes.

“Belying widespread expectations, the Finance Minister has given no meaningful relief to any section of the people. On the contrary, the Finance Minister has increased customs duties on a large number of goods, raised taxes on petrol and diesel and proposed extensive amendments to the Income Tax Act that will increase the tax and compliance burdens on the taxpayer,” the Congress leader said.

On additional taxation on the super-rich, Chidambaram said it is “unclear whether the effective tax rate has been increased from three per cent to seven per cent, or by seven per cent”.

Questioning the government for not having anything for the farmers, he said: “There is nothing in the Budget that explains how you are going to reverse the slide in agriculture.”

Chidambaram also said even the government’s plans for the agriculture sector had not been explored in Sitharaman’s speech, noting that there had been hopes that the government would come up with a detailed blueprint for the revival of the farm sector.

“But in the speech given by the Finance Minister, there was no mention of the agriculture system. How can I say something if she has not mentioned anything?” he said.

Slamming the government, Chidambaram said: “The (Narendra) Modi government treats India as one big state government and has taken upon itself to do things that are the right and duty of state governments.

“This is not cooperative federalism, it is an unequal partnership imposed by the Centre upon state governments.”

Chidambaram said that the Prime Minister is willing to do incremental reforms, but he is unwilling to undertake “radical reforms”.

“It is clear that while the economists are advocating structural reforms, those in government do not believe in it. I think Modi is willing to do incremental reforms, and not bite the bullet to do radical reforms,” he said.

He also said that Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian must be very “disappointed” at the Budget.

“The most disappointed person must be the Chief Economic Adviser. The CEA had set goal for India to become a $5 trillion economy and premised his entire argument on boosting private investment. There was no indication in the budget speech of any measures to attract greater private investment,” he said.

To a question about the government’s decision to keep the Budget documents in four-fold red cloth, like the traditional India ‘bahi khata’ instead of a briefcase, he said: “A Finance Minister belonging to the Congress party will in future bring an iPad.”

Earlier in the day, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Congress media head Randeep Singh Surjewala had described the Budget as “old wine in new bottle”.